Kotak panel suggests setting up tech units in listed cos to help create software jobs

The Kotak Committee on corporate governance has suggested setting up of an information technology committee for listed companies, which will focus on digital and other technologies along with risk management.

A committee like this will require a complete revamp of the current IT teams and ultimately, help create software jobs within IT and outside it, too.

“Currently, people look at employment within the IT sector only. But this will help grow IT jobs outside the IT sector. It will create a significant surge for IT skills across sectors,” R Chandrasekhar, President at Nasscom told The HinduBusiness Line.

Such a revamp will need redesigning the structure and functioning of current teams as it is not just a technology management process, he said.

The Kotak Committee has also suggested that the Risk Management Committees at the listed companies should look at issues of cyber security and risks.

The suggestions come at a time when hiring has slowed in the sector. According to a survey by TeamLease, hiring in IT is likely to shrink further between October 2017 and March 2018.

The IT firms are going slow on mass hiring now to shift to smaller teams that focus on specific operations. This can be attributed to changing business models for these companies as more new technologies come in.

Demand, however, is high for skills like artificial intelligence, data and machine learning, the report said.

Besides these jobs, there has been an uptick in demand for cyber security experts among the companies. In the next 12 months, demand for 10,000 cyber security personnel at various levels is expected, Headhunters India CEO Kris Lakshmikanth told the newspaper.

Overall hiring in India is expected to improve in the third quarter of the current fiscal, according to a survey by the ManpowerGroup. However, the pace of hiring will be slower as compared to the same quarter last year.

The net employment outlook for the October-December quarter stands at 19 percent. The outlook in same quarter last year was 30 percent.