Economic Survey 2021 | Policy reforms like relaxation of OSP terms will improve talent access for IT BPM industry

While the US continues to the major revenue generator accounts for about 62 percent of the total software exports, European region is one of the key growth regions for the IT companies.

The survey noted that the recent policy relaxations related to work from home would further help the sector grow in the coming years.

“In 2021, a number of significant structural reforms have been undertaken to drive innovation, technology adoption and efficiency in the IT-BPM sector, including Relaxation of OSP Terms. This would significantly expand access to talent, increase job creation, make India a global hub for digital services and catapult the sector to the next level of growth and innovation,” according to the survey.

Relaxation of the OSP (Other Service Provider) licence would significantly reduce the regulatory compliance on the business process management companies thereby facilitating work from home for thousands of employees.

The sector employs about 50 lakh people.

IT BPM executives shared that the relaxation would help the industry help the companies access talent in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This will also aid in accessing the talent pool such as retired people with domain knowledge, women and physically challenged people, who can work remotely for few hours.

IT and the COVID-19 pandemic

The IT sector was one of the biggest gainers during the pandemic. Stock prices of large and mid-tier IT companies doubled since April 2020. It was also one of the first sectors to see the demand recover. This was in part driven by the accelerated adoption of technology amid the pandemic.

For major enterprises, technology adoption was imminent to ensure business continuity and that was reflected in the large deals IT majors signed over the last two quarters. Some of the top IT majors such as Infosys and TCS have said they would return to double digit growth in FY22.