Indian software services sector set to meet growth target: Nasscom

The $100-billion IT industry is expected to meet the lower end of 11-14 per cent growth projection, while IT exports is estimated to be $75-77 billion for the financial year, according to industry body Nasscom.

Nasscom, or the National Association of Software and Services Companies, had, in February, projected a growth of 11-14 per cent in February this year.

"We feel that we will meet the guidance at the lower end (11 per cent) of the estimate. So we are projecting that we will end up the fiscal at least with a double-digit growth," Nasscom chairman N Chandrasekaran, who is also TCS managing director and chief executive, said.

This estimate is based on Nasscom's analysis of Indian listed companies, multinationals and GICs; and industry sectors – IT services, business process outsourcing and products.

''The industry has been able to grow despite a challenging environment. We could not meet the upper end of the guidance due to currency fluctuations and also because several of the global in-house captives (GIC) have been going through an internal efficiency measure. Several have also put a freeze on their hiring targets,'' said Nasscom president Som Mittal.

The second-quarter results (quarter ended September) have been much better compared to the previous three quarters.

On the hiring plans, the Nasscom chairman said most of the companies have stuck to their targets and all the offers that were made will be honoured.

Nasscom has set up a committee under Infosys co-founder and chairman NR Narayana Murthy to look into the IT sector infrastructure requirement in 2022. The committee will submit its report either by December or early next year.