IT sector to lose 6.4 lakh "low-skilled" jobs to automation by 2021: HfS Research - The Economic Times

MUMBAI DELHI: A US-based research firm is predicting that India's IT services industry will lose 6.4 lakh "low-skilled" jobs to automation in the next five years, quantifying the extent of likely pain for the first time, but Indian industry experts are urging caution and point to the other side of the coin -- the creation of new jobs in large numbers. By 2021, HfS Research said that the IT industry worldwide would see a net decrease of 9% in headcount, or about 1.4 million jobs, with countries like the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States also taking hits. For its part, IT industry body The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said that the report may not have taken into account all the jobs being created by newer technologies. "Nobody's really seen what automation and robotics will really lead to. There will be some impact of automation but overall we believe that technology adoption will actually lead to more job creation across sectors," Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president at Nasscom, told ET. "Focus on talent increasingly has to be on skill and not scale. Jobs will exist in other places also, it's not fair to say these many jobs will get eliminated."