Talk of job losses in IT sector ‘motivated’: Minister

New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) Dismissing all talk of job losses in Indian information technology (IT) industry as being "motivated", the government on Friday outlined its vision for building the sector into a $1 trillion economy by 2022 that would become a global hub of low-cost digital technology.

"There has been a lot of debate, and by any standards of economy, this talk of job decline in the IT sector is motivated," Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing the industry leaders at an event here to launch work on the blueprint to realise a $1 trillion IT economy.

"IT has been the country's biggest employer in the last decades, employing 40 lakh people directly and about 1.3 lakh crore indirectly," he said.

The Minister cited the National Association of Software and Services Companies' (NASSCOM) recent report that said that in the last three years, almost six lakh people have been employed in the IT sector, while in 2016-17, the number of people employed was around 1.7 lakh.

The Nasscom report also said that 2.5-3 million new jobs will be created by 2025, while refuting reports that six lakh Indian IT professionals are likely to lose their jobs in the next three years.

Prasad noted that it already being an industry with an estimated worth of $400-450 billion, Indian IT would not take long to became a $1 trillion industry.

"India's digital economy has acquired a momentum of its own and its low-cost digital technology is being talked about the world over," he said.

"Digital India is the technical empowerment of Indians and our vision is to create an Indian model of development that will bridge the divide between digital haves and have-nots," he added.