Jobs that involve a combination of deep-domain expertise and technology and those that involve "continuous learning" by employees, could well be the roles that survive the ongoing job crisis in Indian IT, said NASSCOM chairperson, Sindhu Gangadharan, in an exclusive chat with ET Now.Sindhu, who is also MD at SAP Labs India, believes businesses will have to "re-align and re-strategize core investments" as a means of contending with the downturn."It's not about throwing technology at a problem but finding out how you can re-imagine the way business processes are functioning today," she said, "So, there is a need to re-align, re-focus and re-strategize core investments in certain areas of the tech sector." Sindhu added: "The whole focus on re-skilling, re-learning and continuous learning is a trend that we will continue to see."Speaking to ET Now along the sidelines of SAP Labs India inaugurating its second Bengaluru campus, set up with an investment of 194 million euros, Sindhu said it was important for businesses to take a good, hard look at what kind of skill set from an employee's side will be required to pivot and handle present-day operational needs.SAP Labs India's new campus will also be its largest outside of Germany, and has a planned capacity of 15,000 employees, and will feature India's second SAP Experience Centre - a customer-facing enterprise solutions centre. "India has always been a strategic location for SAP from a growth standpoint," said Sindhu, "This centre now makes India the only location to host SAP's entire product portfolio."Given the pace of AI transformation that the global IT ecosystem finds itself in the midst of, the SAP Labs India boss said the need of the hour for Indian IT were skilling and problem-solving."It's important that we all step back and re-look at what core skills are needed for businesses to make that strategic pivot into what we would like to happen," said Sindhu, "Roles that understand the combination of deep-domain expertise and technology expertise are the future."Sindhu was also quick to shoot down any speculation that the rise in global capability centres or GCCs had a negative impact on IT service orders that would require deployment of human resources from the IT/ITES sector.In the recent past, multiple media reports have indicated that India's growth in global capability centre investments could cannibalize the IT services market, especially given that multiple top-tier companies would look to vertically integrate via a GCC of their own, thereby resulting in fewer service orders for top-rung IT firms in India. However, the NASSCOM boss does not agree."Every week we have conversations on how GCCs are tapping into the tech prowess of India," she said, "No matter the industry, GCCs have meant that every company is becoming a tech company, and that is music for all of us in the tech world."She added: "While the nature of the work may change, the fact that the GCC boom is happening does not mean it will have a negative impact on tech growth."
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW of NASSCOM boss | Continuous re-skilling, deep domain expertise could counter job crisis in IT, says Sindhu Gangadharan
