Indian IT sector sees highest growth in a decade, adds 4.5 lakh new jobs

India's information technology (IT) sector is set to become a USD 227 billion industry in FY'22, registering a 15.5 per cent growth which is the highest in over a decade, industry body Nasscom said on Tuesday. Nasscom's president Debjani Ghosh termed it as a year of resurgence, after the one of resilience in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, for FY22, Nasscom said the industry added 4.5 lakh new jobs to take the overall direct employees to 50 lakh people. Over 44% of the new hires were women, and their overall share is now 18 lakh.

The IT industry's revenue had grown by 2.3% to $194 billion in FY21. Export revenues grew 17.2% to $178 billion, while the domestic revenues grew 10% to $49 billion. Additionally, share of the new age digital services grew 25% to $13 billion and India has a strong workforce geared for technologies of the future, Ghosh said in the release.

Nasscom, which has ceased to give a growth projection for the future, said that a chief executives' survey pointed to another growth year. Over 70 per cent of those polled said they will be able to maintain growth in 2022 as well.

Ghosh said the grouping "clearly" sees an ability to reach USD 350 billion in revenues by 2026, saying the "India narrative is becoming tremendously powerful".

The survey said employees will be the key focus areas for companies in the new year, with measures on upskilling and retention, while research and development investments will also accelerate.