NASSCOM calls for re-skilling workforce to check IT job cuts

While the Information Technology sector is in a state of panic due to the recent layoffs , industry body NASSCOM has stated that almost half of the sector's workforce needs to be trained to keep up with the technological advancements of the field.

NASSCOM asserted that 40 per cent of the approximately four million strong workforce has to be re-skilled in the coming five years to come if they are to keep up with the changing face and automation of the industry, in a report by the Times of India. In a press communiqu earlier this week, NASSCOM tried to allay fears of extensive layoffs in the IT sector.

IT professionals in the country have to be well-versed with new technologies as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality set to be the next big thing here, NASSCOM Chairperson Raman Roy was quoted in the report.

Employees engaged in the industry were given a scare after several top IT companies with their operations in India asked their employees to leave. Fears of losing jobs intensified after reports of top seven IT companies planning to terminate several thousand employees by the end of this year started doing the rounds.

IT techies even went ahead to demand government intervention in the matter. Protectionist policies of Trump government, Brexit and Indian IT sector failing to improve itself with technological advancements seen around the world were cited as major reasons behind these layoffs.

The companies, however, rubbished these reports , with IBM even calling the big numbers 'factually incorrect'. The companies maintain that job cuts were part of the annual appraisal cycle and employees were fired on performance grounds. It will not be as widespread as feared, government officials have assured.
IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan has stated a few days ago that IT sector will continue to hire and has added 5 lakh jobs in the last 2.5 years.

On similar lines, NASSCOM stated that IT sector in India is still in better shape. Despite cloud computing-based automation technologies becoming popular in the industry, 1.7 lakh jobs were created in 2016-17 alone.

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