Infosys Ltd will continue to invest in India where talent is available in plenty but leverage the global markets for business, says Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co-Chairman of Infosys.

Clearly, the opportunity is in India while the market is overseas, said the co-founder of the country's second largest software exporter at the National Association of Software and Services Companies India Leadership Forum.

Later speaking to newspersons, Mr Gopalakrishnan said that competition for talent has come down because the overall growth rate of the industry has come down. Normally, “we have seen that the industry is growing very fast and definitely the salaries are on the higher side. When the industry growth rate comes down, the salary level will also come down. Indications are that it will be moderate,” he said.

“There is still growth in emerging markets; in sectors like technology, healthcare, cloud and mobile. There is clearly growth but companies are not willing to invest for the long term. They are investing for the operational matters because they want to sustain the business.

“That is why the slowdown has happened. There is opportunity for growth in the medium and long term. I am optimistic on the prospect of India as well as IT services.”

Budget expectations

On the expectations from the Union Budget for the IT industry, Mr Gopalakrishnan said that infrastructure, education and skill building are the areas that require investment because the IT industry requires talent. The industry is looking for consistency in implementation of the policies already announced, making sure that overall there is a good environment for small and medium businesses to grow.

Clarity on implementation of the policies is very important as many times the interpretation is very different. “Once implemented and interpreted, we need to go on appeal for years to revolve the. It is better that there is clarity.” Currency volatility has been a challenge for the IT industry for the last three to four years with significant movement in the currency.

That is why we have looked at hedging for the long-term. It is very difficult to predict in which way the rupee would move. We can only minimise the impact of that on your revenue either on the upside or the downside.

> raja@thehindu.co.in