Slow automation in progress at Infosys

Infosys Ltd's embrace of automation and artificial intelligence technologies to boost employee productivity is taking longer than expected. India's second-largest software services exporter now expects the related productivity boost to reflect in a meaningful way only from April 2017. Chief executive officer Vishal Sikka had told Mint last October that he expected any "meaningful" impact to start reflecting by the end of March 2016. The development underlines the daunting task faced by Sikka, who is trying to put Infosys back on the global software services map and help the firm retain the bellwether tag in India's 146 billion outsourcing sector. Understandably, the theme of large-scale adoption of automation at the employer of more than 194,000 people was central to the US-based Sikka's five review meetings (including one with company's human resources head Kris Shankar) on his day-long trip to Bengaluru last Saturday.