Reset of India’s tech sector

There are challenging times ahead for Indian companies in terms of changing nature of work and the long-term battle for talent. Industry Gurus are talking about the end of the remote work era is near, and tech layoffs might be the reason.

The much-expected United States recession has impacted the technology sector. Given how interconnected the world is today, a global economic slowdown is inevitable, and layoffs too are not far behind.

The global tech ecosystem is on its way to revolutionizing global industries and societies. High coveted jobs in AI and big data are drastically affected due to the continuous tech layoffs. However, another aspect that is being affected by these constant tech layoffs is the new normal, i.e., remote work. Experts believe that the growing prominence of tech layoffs is bringing the remote work era to an end.

Besides layoffs across big tech firms such as Meta, Amazon, Twitter, and India is also witnessing layoffs in start-ups such as Byju's and Unacademy. In India, however, most layoffs are taking place within startups and companies that scaled up rapidly during the pandemic. These organisations are not only witnessing a slowdown in demand but are also under pressure from investors for better profit margins.

There will be a great reset for the Indian tech sector. The ongoing workforce rationalisation will streamline the talent pool, retaining only the skilled and qualified. However, we will see significant progress in autonomous systems, 5G, and green technology, as well as a quantum leap in technological skilling to digital transformation-related skilling.

Today, we can say, every business is a tech driven business, and digital transformation is no longer a question. The advantage of India is that it has a good mix of large and mid-market enterprises. With the expansion of technology dimensions, the Indian government has put a lot of focus on creating technology and products within the country and it is showing results on ground.

We are going to witness how businesses are looking to shift their operational core to the cloud. Then, there is the experience economy, which includes people experience, customer experience, and how to serve different clients. We can see growth largely on the customer, and people experience sides. As per Industry leaders, the coming year will be a bedrock for future innovations across sectors and can prove to be a milestone year.

The tech giants like Microsoft and Apple have also been pushing out of the whole hybrid work system. However, with the increasing number of layoffs, more and more departments of these companies are reducing work-from-home policies.

The public markets have been hit hard in 2022, due to the economic and financial turmoil. With the incoming Covid wave, experts believe that the market will implode as we faced similar situations in 2020 and 2021.

The recent report from Goldman Sachs has slashed India’s GDP growth prospects to 5.9 percent in line with the global recession, but it is expected to pick up pace in the second half as the world recovers, and the export market and investments improve.

Tech layoffs will increase and the mass volume of unemployed will soar dramatically. However, if need be, companies might have to once again follow the traditional Covid protocols. The economic slowdown is now a reality, and the effects will be felt across all sectors including IT.

These factors will have a ripple effect across the sector. But it is important to remember that such downturns are periodical in nature and occur every few years while the world adjusts to a new economic reality.