Kotak committee pitch for ‘IT panels’ in firms can create software jobs

Software engineers who have been grappling with mass layoffs in India could soon get some respite with the new Kotak Committee report on corporate governance opening up possibilities of tens of thousands of software jobs across the country.

The committee has proposed that listed entities should constitute an information technology committee which, in addition to the risk management committee, will focus on digital and other technological aspects.

“Such a committee is absolutely essential in today’s world,” said R Chandrasekhar, President at Nasscom. “This transformation is not just a technology management process. It is a complete redesigning of organisation, its structure and functioning. It requires deeper analysis than just technology aspect.” This will require revamping of IT setup and augmentation of existing IT teams at all listed companies in the country, which is likely to increase demand for software jobs manifold.

“Currently, people look at employment within IT sector only. But this will help grow IT jobs outside the IT sector. It will create a significant surge for IT skills across sectors,” Chandrasekhar said, adding that “growth in demand of these jobs will depend on the pace of adoption and how the regulatory support is created. But we will be fully supportive of these recommendations.”

Along with the recommendation for setting up an information technology committee, the Kotak Committee has recommended that existing Risk Management Committees at listed entities should also specifically cover the aspects of cyber security and related risks.

Recruiters say that while demand for IT workers has waned among the IT services companies, there is increasing demand for cyber security experts already among large corporates and the new rules, if implemented will boost this further.

“There is already surge in the demand for cyber security experts. We expect that in the next 12 months, there will be clear demand for over 10,000 cyber security people across levels,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO at recruitment firm Headhunters India, adding that this could go up to 50,000 jobs in the next five years.

IT services companies have long been focussed on high margin projects in US and Europe, with less than 20 per cent of their revenues coming from India, as per Nasscom. This export market is already seeing slowdown in demand, which has led to massive job cuts across the tech industry in India.

The good news is, that compared to software exports, which are growing at only 8 percent annually, domestic market is already growing at over 10 per cent a year. And this growth is likely to get a shot in the arm with the help of the new Kotak Committee report.

The industry is now keenly looking forward for finer details on these recommendations and how these get implemented on ground.