AI shift will be painful but IT industry’s obituary premature: HCLTech CEO

Mumbai: Amid concerns over jobs and relevance of India’s nearly USD 300 billion IT services sector, HCL Technologies Managing Director and Chief Executive C Vijayakumar on Tuesday said the ongoing transition driven by artificial intelligence will be “painful” as it directly involves humans.

However, he said this is not the time to write an obituary for the industry, noting that capabilities in managing complex enterprise technology architectures and strong domain understanding will continue to ensure relevance.

“I would say this transition (brought by AI) is different from the other transitions. It’s going to be painful because it really involves people,” Vijayakumar said while speaking at industry lobby grouping Nasscom’s NTLF event here. Drawing parallels with past shifts such as the post-Y2K phase, he said the industry will need to reinvent itself, adding that investor concerns around IT stocks are “overblown”.

Vijayakumar said IT services companies operate in highly complex environments and contextual understanding will keep them relevant.