NASSCOM not to give industry guidance anymore

NASSCOM is doing away with the guidance for fiscal 2020 for the IT sector in the light of macro-economic factors such as Brexit and trade wars.

Interacting with mediapersons in Mumbai at the NASSCOM Technology Leadership Forum 2019, Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM President, said: "We need to create a new lens for understanding the industry landscape."

The IT sector grew marginally above NASSCOM guidance of 7-9 percent.

"The guidance is based on past data and it is not right metric anymore for the industry," she said.

IT industry is undergoing a huge transformation in the light of digitization wave. Given the context, Ghosh added, there is a need to look at the sector in a different lens and metrics that allows fair judgment of the sector.

"We are looking at the right metrics to measure the success of the IT industry," Ghosh said.

The industry body is looking at metrics such as digital revenues, mergers and acquisitions, automation, digital skilling, patents, investments made in digital and customer satisfaction.

"It is still a work in progress," she added.

Instead of guidance, NASSCOM revealed a CEO survey on their sentiment. The survey reveals that while there is optimism, most of the leaders are cautious given the global uncertainties. But most of them are confident about the spending on digital despite the global uncertainties. Key drivers for growth in 2019-20 will be digitization in core sectors followed by customer experience. However cost optimization was a much lower priority across.

Talking about the sector's performance in 2018, Ghosh said the sector crossed $137 billion in revenues and digital was one of the growth driver for the year. Digital is growing at 30 per cent and estimated to be worth $33 billion in 2018-19.

Rishad Premji, Chairman, NASSCOM, said: "The industry performance showcased a changing narrative for the sector, focusing on internal transformation and driving transformation for its clients globally and in India."