The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has maintained its growth forecast for the industry, at 12-14 per cent for fiscal 2014. It will, however, review this after October, according to its president Som Mittal.

“We stand by our forecast. There is no need to review it now,” he told newspersons on the sidelines of the two-day HR summit organised by the information technology and business process outsourcing industry body.

The industry is likely to touch $84-$87 billion in exports in the current financial year. Last year, the sector grew at 10.2 per cent to touch $75.8 billion, against an original forecast of 11-14 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have come up with good results, and some of the mid-tier companies have also announced better results in the first quarter. “Let’s wait till the next quarter,” he said.

Domestic market

Mittal said that the domestic IT market will touch $50 billion by 2020, from the present $16 billion. Opportunities are coming in software products, systems integration, mobile software applications and e-learning.

The hiring pattern has changed, said Mittal. Only around 40 per cent of the hiring is now happening from campuses – coming in the seventh or eighth semester. “However, with business uncertain, we do not want to get into a situation by giving more job offers and then keep extending it,” he said. All those who have been given offers this year will be on-boarded by March, he said.

In the last one decade, nearly 2 million have been added, and the sector now employs around 3 million people. “Our focus is going to be on non-linear growth,” he said.

Net employer

The industry will continue to be a net hirer. Companies will hire people, but at a slower rate. This is because attrition is down and employee utilisation levels are going up. Also, companies are adopting just-in-time hiring.

Attrition, which used to be nearly 19 per cent, has dropped to 14 per cent. It is under control and companies have indicated a decline, he said.

Mittal said soft skills and domain skills are increasingly being sought out among candidates. From 2000-2006, nearly 85 per cent of the recruitment was based purely on technical skills while 10 per cent was on domain skills. From 2006 to 2011, about 65 per cent of people were employed based on technical skills and 22 per cent for domain skills and the balance for soft skills.

However, from 2011 onwards, hiring based on technical skills was down to 40 per cent, with domain skills getting equal importance with 40 per cent and soft skills forming the rest at 20 per cent. There is a greater demand for domain and soft skills, he said. In 2013, the HR mandate is being driven by employee engagement, hiring specialised skills, training, skill assessment and partner academia.

Traditionally, 60-70 per cent of hiring by top software companies was done at college campuses. However, this could come down to around 40 per cent due to the slow hiring process by the companies, said Mittal.

> raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

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