India’s Information Technology service companies may shed 30,000 to 40,000 middle-level employees this year as growth slows down, industry veteran T.V. Mohandas Pai said on Monday.
The former Chief Financial Officer of IT major Infosys Ltd. termed the job losses as once-in-five-years normal phenomenon with maturing of the industry.
“As in all sectors in the West, in India too when a sector matures, there will be many people in the middle level who do not add value to the salary they get,” Mr. Pai told PTI.
Promotions are okay when companies are growing fast but when it slows down, people getting fat salaries will aggregate at the higher level, prompting companies to periodically reset their pyramids, and shed people, he said.
“It’s going to happen again every five years,” said Mr. Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education Services.
“Nobody is entitled to a fat salary and high-paying job unless you perform, right? You have to deliver value”. “All across industry, may be 30,000 to 40,000 in a year...,” he said when asked about the number of middle-level staff who would lose their jobs.
But Mr. Pai said about 80% of those who lose jobs would have employment opportunities in industries in general if they are specialists.
