Optimistic About Fiscal Year 2018-19, Continue To See Green Shoots: Nasscom

Industry body Nasscom is expecting the $150-billion Indian IT industry to deliver a strong performance next fiscal year on revival in tech spends of the financial sector and demand growth from the US clients. "There are reasons to be optimistic about the year ahead (2018-19).

We continue to see that there are green shoots... The demand side prognosis looks positive," Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar told news agency Press Trust of India. Elaborating on the positive cues, Mr Chandrasekhar said he expects a revival of financial sector investments (into technology) and a greater hardening of demand in the US.

"There is also a lot of re-strategising by the Indian companies as well," Mr Chandrasekhar pointed out.

He added that companies are also focussing on re-skilling employees on new digital technologies to drive growth.

"All of this should take full shape in the next few months... All of this would translate into more positive outcome in 2019," he said.

He also exuded confidence that the industry would be able to meet this year's growth target.

Outlining the industry's annual guidance in June this year, Nasscom had said the Indian IT export would grow by 7-8 per cent this fiscal year, same as the previous year, while the domestic infotech industry would expand at 10-11 per cent during the period.

A number of issues like stricter work visa regulations in key markets like the US and the UK and an uncertain business environment have been main concerns for the industry.

Mr Chandrasekhar said the industry should not be worried about protectionism as the number of visas issued has not changed.

"The cap of 65,000 remains, there is no change in that. The dependence on visas (for Indian companies) has, however, come down. It is the tech and business trends that are far more important (to focus on)...automation for example," he said.

Mr Chandrasekhar said that member companies are making investments in skilling their workforce in new areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning to ensure that revenues grow along with increase in efficiency.

The industry body is working with its member companies and the central and state governments to also set up centres of excellence (COEs).

"These CoEs are a platform to connect companies in these emerging areas, especially in terms of finding mentors. They are also zones of collaboration where teams can work together," he said.

Nasscom has already set up a centre focusing on Internet of Things or IoT in Bengaluru. The government has now approved an extension of that to three more centres in Gurugram, Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam, he said.

"That extension is underway...and we are trying to systematically look at various applications of IoT in different areas, be in manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, energy amongst others. Each of these centres will focus on certain domains," he added.

Put simply, Internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of connected devices, automobiles, consumer appliances and various gadgets with sensors that allow these machines to collect and exchange information.