Reorient strategy on jobs

Infosys’ announcement that it would hire 10,000 Americans for its US offices in the next two years hints at the changing dynamics of global trade. While 10,000 jobs is just a small percentage of jobs created by India’s second-largest IT company and is considered a signal to please politicians in the United States, it is also clear that sending Indians to work in the US will no longer be easy. Critics may blame President Donald Trump for targeting Indian companies, but protectionism is now a global phenomenon.

One reason for negotiations between the European Union and India getting stalled is the EU’s reluctance to treat India as a “data-secure” country, which would lead to Indian IT firms getting more contracts. India is pushing for multilateral agreements on free movement of professionals at the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Trade Facilitation in Services Agreement at WTO. However, most nations are not too willing to open up their economies to skilled foreign workers.

With around 16 lakh graduates entering the job market every year amid slow job creation due to global protectionism and automation threats, the urgent issue for the Indian government is to redesign its job creation strategy. The focus on the export-led model alone may not work. India’s IT sector must make the Digital India programme its pivot for India-focused opportunities, whose solutions could be profitably deployed in a large number of developing countries. As former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan once said, it’s time for the government and Indian industry to focus on “Make for India”, rather than the export-driven “Make in India”.