Tales of Indian IT's death exaggerated: Nitin Rakesh, Council Head, Nasscom IT services

BENGALURU: Indian IT companies are doing their best to weather the changes in the sector and are actively working at retraining their employees to ensure that they make the transition, head of Nasscom IT services council Nitin Rakesh said.

Several articles have been written predicting the end of the Indian IT sector but changes in the space are nothing new, Rakesh, also Mphasis CEO, said. “We have gone from mainframes to client server, to internet and now to digital offerings. We have made these changes before. As always there is a period of transition. And I can tell you, each company is capable of making this pivot though they may pick different parts to focus on,” Rakesh said.

He contested the fact that Indian IT has not done enough to make the change. Last month, in an opinion piece, Silicon Valley investor Vivek Wadhwa referred to Indian IT executives as ‘duffers’ and added that they were in a panic because they have failed to transform themselves for years.

“There is a disruption and maybe not every single company will make the pivot successfully but every company in the industry has cutting-edge capabilities and is investing heavily to make the shift. India will be the digital factory of the future,” Rakesh said.

He contested the fact that Indian IT has not done enough to make the change. Last month, in an opinion piece, Silicon Valley investor Vivek Wadhwa referred to Indian IT executives as ‘duffers’ and added that they were in a panic because they have failed to transform themselves for years.

“There is a disruption and maybe not every single company will make the pivot successfully but every company in the industry has cutting-edge capabilities and is investing heavily to make the shift. India will be the digital factory of the future,” Rakesh said.

He said it was important to combat the impression of impending doom because of the impact it had not only on four million employees in the industry but also on client demand. “All clients have set up these Google alerts and seeing articles like this s a cause for concern.”

Nasscom’s IT services council is looking at changing how customers see India – from a cost-friendly offshore outsourcing destination to an essential technology partner. It has begun a new programme called ‘Bangalore-to-Bay Area’ to boost and encourage the development of intellectual property as well as startups.

The council is also looking at academic partnerships to make the country a technology destination and a ‘Create in India’ programme for reskilling.