Indian IT, Startups Likely to Hire 5 Lakh People in 2019: Mohandas Pai

India’s information technology (IT) services sector and startups together are expected to hire up to five lakh people in 2019 as demand for freshers are on the upswing, an industry veteran said on Wednesday.

Former Chief Financial Officer of IT major Infosys Ltd, T V Mohandas Pai said entry-level packages in the industry went up by as much as 20% in 2018, after stagnation in salaries for the past seven years. “Growth is coming back to the Indian IT services industry,” he said, talking about industry highlights in 2018 and prospects in the coming calendar year. Pai said 2018 saw “H-1B visa situation getting tougher,” Indian companies focusing more on Japan and Southeast Asia, massive expansion of captives and buy-backs by big companies.

Hyderabad has become a hot destination, with many new age companies coming to the Telangana capital, thanks to good infrastructure, and “very good marketing” by KTR (K T Rama Rao, who served as IT Minister in the previous TRS government), according to him.

He also said Indian companies were now trying to expand in markets in Asia.