AHEAD OF THE CURVE

With its continued focus on evolving tech avenues like cloud, AI, and cyber and data security, India's IT sector is keeping pace with the times to chase the next phase of growth

- BY AAKANKSHA CHATURVEDI

Home to some of the world’s major global IT powerhouses, including names such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, among many others, the Indian IT industry employs about 5 million people, and generates roughly 10 per cent of India’s GDP. Clearly, the sector is of critical importance to India’s growth story. But will the country be able to maintain its current leadership in IT services in the next two and a half decades? That remains unclear. Some of the questions that hang over the sector are: How will India’s IT landscape evolve by 2047? What would its structure and internal workings look like? What skills would be in demand in the next quarter century? The industry needs answers to these questions before it can be assured of sustainable and long-term growth.

Attempting to foretell the future 25 years from now is a daunting task, especially considering the rate at which technology is evolving these days. But even then, it is possible to explore the way we are headed based on the current overarching trends in the industry.

TECH OF THE FUTURE

Leading Indian IT firms like TCS, HCL and Wipro, among others, are focussed on cutting edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) while catering to their clients’ requirements. Further, it is a testament to their increased interest around these new tech avenues that Infosys—India’s second-largest IT services company—had invested in OpenAI, the start-up that designed conversational AI tool ChatGPT, over half a decade ago.