Information Technology Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. Deccan Herald file photo
Amid apprehensions of job cuts in the Indian IT sector, the Centre on Tuesday said that the industry has assured the government that there will be no large-scale job losses.
“Some of the companies which have been named (as undertaking job cuts) have clarified that there is nothing big this year,” Information Technology Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here on the sidelines of an event.
“As part of their annual appraisals, some companies may not be renewing contracts but it is absolutely incorrect to assume that suddenly this year a large number of jobs are being shed,” she said. “There could be some cases were contracts are not renewed as part of the regular annual appraisal cycle. The industry is also undergoing a shift in the job profile, given the advent of cloud, big data and digital payments,” she said.
The government has received an assurance from the industry in this regard, Aruna said, adding that the IT industry is growing at 8-9% and there is nothing to suggest that the growth is going to slow down “dramatically”.
She also said that the IT sector will continue to hire and has added 5 lakh jobs in the last 2.5 years. The issue needs to be looked at “holistically”, she said.
The development comes at a time when Indian IT firms are facing challenges in the business environment and stricter work permit regime in countries like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Some of the major IT companies, including Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra, have initiated annual performance reviews, a process that weeds out bottom performers or non-performers.