As per inputs received from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), there is no massive retrenchment of employees in the IT sector, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the IT sector directly employs around 41.4 lakh persons with an addition of around 1.7 lakh persons in financial year 2018-19 and continues to be a net hirer in this fiscal, he said in the reply.
The Minister was responding to a query by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP K.K. Ragesh.
“The IT sector, both globally and in India, is witnessing unprecedented technology-driven changes. These demand new sets of skills and are opening opportunities for newer job roles,” Mr. Gangwar said in his reply.
The stakeholders covering industry, academia and Sector Skills Councils are working to ensure that the existing work force is reskilled/ up-skilled in emerging technologies and job roles. Most companies (large, medium and small) are also implementing rigorous training programmes to re-skill/ up-skill their existing employees in new and emerging technologies, he added.
The issue cropped up in October, when Cognizant said it would remove about 10,000-12,000 mid-to-senior level associates worldwide from their current roles in the coming quarters.
There was also news that Infosys was planning to send out about 2,200 “non-performers”. Denying it was a mass lay-off , Infosys said that it was involuntary attrition, which was integral to the normal course of business.
DMK President M.K. Stalin had recently urged the Centre and State government to take affirmative measures to address the unemployment crisis and also stop the reported mass lay-offs in the IT sector.
The Tamil Nadu Labour Department also recently held talks with 19 IT companies and had sought data on EPF contributions to check whether there are any retrenchments, some unions where claiming.
