New year cheer for job seekers! IT & startups expected to hire 5 lakh people in 2019

The coming year might bring some cheer for young job seekers as the new age information technology (IT) services sector along with innovative start-ups of the country is expected to hike up to 5 lakh people in 2019.

New year cheer for job seekers! IT & startups expected to hire 5 lakh people in 2019. (Image: AFP)

IT & start-up jobs: The coming year might bring some cheer for young job seekers as the new age information technology (IT) services sector along with innovative start-ups of the country is expected to hike up to 5 lakh people in 2019. Speaking about the same, co-founder and former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of tech giant Infosys Ltd, TV Mohandas Pai said this could happen as demand for hiring freshers is on the upswing and is expected to go even higher in the months to come. “Entry-level packages in the industry went up by as much as 20 per cent in 2018, after stagnation in salaries for the past seven years,” news agency PTI quoted Pai as saying. The industry veteran also believes that growth is coming back in the Indian IT services industry. Pai shared his thoughts while talking about industry highlights in 2018 and prospects in the coming calendar year. Pai said 2018 saw “H1B visa situation getting tougher,” Indian companies focusing more on Japan and Southeast Asia, massive expansion of captives and buy-backs by big companies. Further sharing his thoughts on state-wise job aspect, Pai said that Hyderabad has become a hot destination, with many new age companies coming here and the credit goes to the enhanced infrastructure of the state along with efforts given by the government on marketing. Pai also highlighted the fact that reskilling of employees in IT service companies has increased significantly. “More than half the people have been reskilled in all the IT companies in India. Digital income is growing in double digits for all the companies. 2018 has been a good year,” he added. Commenting on salary packages of these hires, Pai said that entry-level packages are now pegged at Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per annum, as Indian firms are comfortable in paying more to hire quality employees. Even the hiring in the IT services industry has witnessed a significant increase in the past 5 years. “First time in seven years, hiring compensation (entry-level) has gone up by 20 per cent. Fresher compensation is going up, after a long time. It's a good news.” Currently, start-ups have a total of 600,000 employees in India. As per market reports, the IT services companies and start-ups together hired 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh people in 2018.