Nasscom Chair Prioritizes Restoring Revenue Growth and Promoting AI Adoption

Nasscom's New Chairman Outlines Priorities for IT Industry

Srikanth Velamakanni, the newly appointed Chairman of the Indian IT industry body Nasscom, has outlined key priorities for the organization during his tenure. Speaking to PTI in an interview, Velamakanni emphasized the need for the industry to compete more aggressively in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Competing in the Age of AI

Velamakanni aims to see India compete even better and more aggressively in the age of AI, with a focus on policy support to enable the industry to build more capacity and introduce an AI-led curriculum in the education system. He believes that restoring revenue growth is crucial across the IT industry, and that this growth will be restored as the year progresses.

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Revenue Growth and Human Roles

According to Velamakanni, companies will drive revenue per employee growth as well, as the industry progresses through the year. While technology will continue to advance, surpassing human work in some areas, he emphasizes that this does not mean a decrease in the importance of human roles. Instead, he believes that both technology and human roles can coexist, with companies transforming in the age of AI.

Driving Technology Spending

Velamakanni plans to drive Nasscom to evangelize the increasing role of technology and AI in every company, leading to an increase in spending for technology within the country. He notes that the government has launched several programs to promote technology, including the India AI mission and National Quantum Mission, and aims to build higher capacity and innovation around these initiatives in the next year.

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Employment Generation in an AI-Dominated Era

On employment generation, Velamakanni notes that the net addition of jobs has been positive for the last year, and it continues to stay positive. However, he acknowledges that the tech industry has seen a decrease in headcount addition in recent years due to lower-than-expected growth. He believes that AI technologies will continue to compress human hours, but that this will ultimately lead to a greater need for enterprise AI, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for enterprises.

A Bright Future for the Tech Industry

Velamakanni is optimistic about the future of the tech industry, stating that the best days are ahead of us. As growth restores, he believes that employment will also start to pick up. He emphasizes that India will play a pivotal role in this AI-led transformation, and that the focus over the coming year will be to drive the next cycle of AI-powered growth across services and products, preparing the workforce to lead with AI.