Hiring by Indian IT companies has grown 12 months in a row, up over three-fold

• An India capital markets and investment group, CLSA, has said that hiring in the IT sector that grown for 12 successive months.
• Hiring in Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, two of the largest IT firms in India, increased 350% in FY19.
• IT employment isn’t just growing in the tech sector but also in the non-traditional

Among growing concerns around employment in India, CLSA — a capital markets and investment group — claims that hiring in information and technology (IT) sector is continuing to grow in double digits for the fourth consecutive month.



The finding comes in the backdrop of an ongoing job crisis in the country in an election year during slowdown in job growth across all sectors. Nonetheless, two leading IT firms in India — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys — reportedly increased their hiring by 350% in FY19.

The IT sector faced some troubled waters back in 2017, when tech firms all over India laid off around 56,000 workers allegedly due to digitisation and automation.

A recent analysis by a research team at Azim Premji University painted a grim picture, saying over 5 million jobs were lost in India between the years of 2016 and 2018.

The IT sector, nonetheless, seems to have turned a corner in the last two quarters.

And, the Experis IT Employment Outlook Survey predicted as much, expecting a positive net employment outlook of 53% between October 2018 and March 2019.

But, the survey also pointed out how most of the employment will be generated by non-IT companies looking to transform digitally. As much as 45% of the demand for IT professionals would come from companies involved in utilities, finance, manufacturing and retail.

The rapid evolution of machines and algorithms in the workplace could create 133 million new roles in place of 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022,

Even NASSCOM backed that claim with their own study indicating how artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics would drive IT hiring in the future.

And, while the change in the nature of IT jobs will create 133 million new opportunities, it will also result in the displacement of 75 million jobs by 2022 according to the World Economic Forum.

This phenomenon can be observed in India where the overall number of employees in the top two IT firms in India — TCS and Infosys — has increased, but the net addition per quarter has been dipping in the past two quarters. Even though, for FY19, hiring between the two has grown 350%.



But, it’s not that jobs don’t exist — the problem is more about the growing skill gap that is indicative of a much more severe issue at an education level.

Employers are looking to hire individuals for very specific tasks that require a specialised skill set meanwhile higher education institutes are still giving out generic and broad degrees.

In October 2018, more than 50,000 data science and machine learning (ML) jobs were vacant in India. And, as companies look for highly skilled workers, the unskilled and low-skilled portion of the workforce will suffer further.

Even when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) there were reportedly 4,000 vacant positions in December 2018 according to Analytics India Magazine study.

Big data analytics is currently the ‘hottest’ sectors in IT, but India only has fewer than 10% of data scientists available globally. LinkedIn estimates that the demand for big data professionals will only increase in the future, hitting nearly 40% over the next two years.

The situation is already so severe that earlier this year in February, over 150 individuals with Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and engineering degrees applied for the 14 available posts at the Sanitation Department in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.