Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped praise on the Indian IT industry as it managed to post a healthy growth and create lakhs of jobs in a pandemic year, even as he urged companies to make for India so that the domestic market can benefit from technology.
"The world has higher expectations from India. No matter what the challenge, we should not be weak and run away from a challenge. India is supplying made in India Corona vaccine to the whole world. India's Covid solution is an inspiration to the whole world", PM Modi said at the virtual edition of the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum.
"Indian's IT industry has done wonders. When the chips were down your code kept things running, adding billions of dollars in revenues and creating lakhs of jobs. IT proved why it is a strong pillar of the Indian economy. Every indicator is showing that IT industry growth momentum is going to touch new heights," he added.
Modi also spoke about the government's efforts to digitise India through various policies. "The Indian IT industry has left its footprint globally long ago but the Indian domestic market didn't benefit from it, creating a digital divide. Our govt policies how we changed this approach. We did away with OSP guidelines, making it easier to work from home"
The prime minister further urged the industry to 'Make for India'. "The country has high expectations from the IT industry, I hope your solutions will have 'made for India' now. Innovation and enterprise will help Indian IT build a culture of excellence and institution building."
Top leaders from the industry said the government's move to relax Other Service Provider Guidelines had helped ease remote working. "The industry was able to adapt well to the challenges thrown by the pandemic thanks to the tremendous support received from the Govt to enable our employees to work from home," Wipro chairman Roshad Premji said.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu made a pitch for Atmanirbhar Bharat, stating that the private sector in India needed to move from a trader mindset to a maker mindset.
As part of its annual strategic report shared earlier this week, software body Nasscom also said the size of the technology industry is estimated to grow 2.3 percent to $194 billion for the year ending March 2021, compared to $190 billion last year. Exports stood at an estimated $150 billion from $147 billion last year. The industry grew 7.7 percent in FY20.
Indian tech contributed ~8 percent relative share to the national GDP, with 52 percent relative share in services exports, and 50 percent share in total FDI (based on FDI inflows for the period April to September 2020). The report further said that the Indian tech industry continues to be a net hirer with a significant focus on digital upskilling.
The industry is expected to add over 138,000 net new hires in FY2020-21, taking the total employee base to 4.47 million in FY2020-21. The digital talent pool is expected to cross 1.17 million, growing at 32 percent over last year.
The NASSCOM CEO Survey 2021 reveals that 95 percent of the executives expect 2021 hiring to be more than what they hired in 2020. The number of employees in digital currently accounts for about 1.17 million and companies upskill 2.5 lakh employees in digital skills every year.
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