Not correct to assume IT industry going for big job cuts: Govt

Amidst apprehension that large scale job cut likely to take place in Indian IT sector, the Centre on Tuesday said that IT industry has assured the government that there will be no large scale job losses in the technology sector.

"Some of the companies which have been named (as undertaking job cuts) have clarified that there is nothing big this year," Information Technology Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here on the sideline of an event.  

"As part of annual appraisals, some companies may not be renewing contract of some people but it is absolutely incorrect to assume that suddenly this year a large number of jobs are being shed," she said.

There could be some cases were contracts are not renewed as part of the regular annual appraisal cycle. The  industry is also undergoing a shift in the job profile given the advent of cloud, big data and digital payments, she said.

The government has received an assurance from the industry in this regard, she said adding that the IT industry is growing at 8-9 per cent and there is nothing to suggest that the growth is going to slow down "dramatically".

She also said that the IT sector will continue to hire and has added 5 lakh jobs in the last 2.5 years. The issue needed to be looked at "holistically", she added.

There have been reports that large scale layoffs likely to take place in coming days in the IT sector. The development comes at a time when Indian IT firms are facing challenges in the business environment and stricter work permit regime in countries like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Some of the major IT companies including Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, and Tech Mahindra have initiated annual performance reviews, a process that weeds out bottom performers or non performers.