H-1B visa restrictions or escalation in visa costs are not challenges but opportunities for the Indian IT services industry, said Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
While speaking at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum, Chandrasekaran said there are ample opportunities in different industries and geographies that are yet to be explored by the industry and since IT services can work for any industry or geography, it is time to explore the unexplored.
“Every time there is a regulation change or a perceived challenge, whether it is H-1B or increase in visa fee, people talk about IT industry being in trouble. I want to categorically say it is the most exciting industry to be in,” he said.
He said there is ample opportunity for the industry and digital transformation will help expand industry’s pie. “Every business is getting re-imagined and redefined and they will all be powered by technology. So, the demand that you’ll see is exponential. And it will always be about tweaking of business models. There are so many parameters we need to play with. It is almost like a cricket pitch, where an occasional ball will do something. Because we are in an industry that is fast changing. So you need to build skills, hire the right talent and re-engineer senior people towards agile way of doing business,” Chandrasekaran said.
When asked why TCS could not become a products company and continued to focus on cost arbitrage, “Let’s not rubbish IT services industry. We should celebrate it. If you link it to labour arbitrage, you’d be doing great injustice and you’d be talking 1980s and not 2017. Instead of asking us why we didn’t build another Windows, you should ask Microsoft why they didn’t build another TCS,” Chandrasekaran said.