MC EXCLUSIVE India engaging with US, global firms to protect IT jobs, says Ashwini Vaishnaw 

“We are also engaging with the governments of the US, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia. The effort is to ensure that this vibrant industry, which provides high-quality employment, remains intact and continues to grow.”

India's IT services sector, which employs over 5.67 million people and contributes significantly to export revenues, has long relied on overseas clients, particularly in the US. A protectionist shift in Washington could put pressure on the industry’s offshore delivery model.

However, Vaishnaw emphasised that India is not solely dependent on services exports. The government is simultaneously building domestic resilience through an aggressive push in electronics and manufacturing.

“Electronics manufacturing has grown, and our smartphone market share has increased,” he said, adding that India is steadily localising the supply chain by bringing “all electronic components to India one by one.”

Vaishnaw said the government’s strategy of safeguarding existing IT employment and boosting domestic manufacturing is aimed at both “protecting jobs and increasing new opportunities” for the country’s large skilled workforce.

He also added that the government is closely consulting the IT industry to ensure support in creating upskilling programs, at a time when Indian IT giants such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have started laying off employees. The government is helping IT workforce to adapt to the new world amid "changing technologies and dynamic geopolitical situations."

Vaishnaw said that the government's collaboration with industry body Nasscom through programs such as FutureSkills has already upskilled a very large number of IT professionals.

"In AI, we have taken up very large-scale skilling programs, similar to the semiconductor skilling program. Whenever times change, the government and the industry must work together to make sure that the transition is orderly," he said.

India's technology sector is expected to grow at a higher pace this fiscal year, driven by engineering research and development and the rising number of global capacity centres (GCC), or low-cost offshore hubs, industry body Nasscom said in its annual strategic review earlier this year.

Nasscom expects the industry's revenue will grow 5.1 percent to $282.6 billion in fiscal 2025, compared with the previous fiscal's 4 percent, with revenue crossing $300 billion in fiscal 2026.

Software exports, comprising services and sales of products to clients, are expected to grow 4.6% to $224.4 billion in fiscal year 2025, the industry body said.

The sector is expected to add 126,000 jobs on a net basis, taking the total workforce to 5.8 million in fiscal year 2025, it added.

The industry's total headcount rose to 5.67 million in fiscal 2024 from 5.58 million a year earlier.

In recent weeks, there has been avid speculation about Washington coming after these high-paying technology jobs amid fraying ties between India and the US.

US President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has stirred a debate on the $280 billion Indian IT outsourcing sector by hinting at tariffs on foreign remote workers, a move that could directly hit India’s biggest foreign exchange earners.

Navarro, known for his hawkish trade positions, reposted a message on social media X saying: “Tariff the foreign remote workers. All outsourcing should be tariffed. Countries must pay for the privilege of providing services remotely to the US the same way as goods.”