‘Talent crunch is real’: Wipro’s Rishad Premji on tech industry

Rishad Premji's remarks come amid the huge talent shortage companies face even as demand continues to rise.

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji on Tuesday acknowledged the talent crunch in the technology industry and said that it presented a great opportunity for job creation.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "The technology industry in India now employs over 5 million people and added 45 lakh new jobs this year.  And yet the talent crunch is real! What a great opportunity this presents for new job creation!"

The Technology industry in India now employs over 5M people and added 450K new jobs this year. And yet the talent crunch is real! What a great opportunity this presents for new job creation!

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— Rishad Premji (@RishadPremji) February 15, 2022

Speaking about job retention, Premji had said at an event in January, "The number one challenge companies have right now is talent. So any company that can win the war for talent will be the winner.”

His remarks come amid the huge talent shortage companies face even as demand continues to rise. “At some level, there is such a huge mismatch today between demand and just availability of supply,” Rishad Premji said.

To meet the demand, Wipro is doubling down on its fresher hiring and is looking to add 17,000 new hires in FY22, up from 9,000 the previous year.

Its peers in the information technology sector have also increased their talent intake. The top four IT firms together have doubled fresher hiring to 1.6 lakh in FY22 from 82,000 in the previous year. Companies are also facing severe attrition, resulting in wage inflation.

“So there’s a lot of effort being put at multiple different levels and we were spending an inordinate amount of time and money trying to reskill and upskill people,” Premji said.