US H-1B is not an issue for the Indian IT Sector: Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM President

Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, in an exclusive interview with Zee Business's Anurag Shah spoke about how the Indian IT sector was treating the US H-1B visa issue, the gradual change of the legacy model in IT industry and how students must learn about digital technologies as the companies of the future will be infused with such systems. Here are the edited excerpts of the interview: 

Q: US visa issue is a matter of concern for the IT sector in India. Can you let us know something about the challenges and opportunities in the Indian IT sector, at least in prevailing situations?

A: Right now, the biggest challenge is how to prioritize our opportunities. Today, opportunities are immense and are growing day by day. The visa issue is frankly not an issue for the Indian IT sector. When it comes to the Indian IT sector then they take less than 12 percent of H-1B visas, which is a very small number.

The IT sector has re-invented its business model and is going more onshore with the customers because it is the need of the hour. Especially, in case of the new emerging technologies, you have to co-create, you have to collaborate. The offshore model that they had is a legacy model and is changing. The new model is focused on digital technology, digital collaboration, so it's really not a challenge.

Q: Is the IT sector in contact with the authorities over the issue and if yes, then can you please explain?

A: It has not been legislated yet. It is only at the discussion level and thus, at this stage, there is nothing to explain. When it is about to get legislated then we will talk.

Q: At present, the students are not showing any interest towards IT courses and this is leading to the closure of IT courses in several engineering colleges. Can you say something to motivate students to opt for IT courses?

A: I think the closing of the weaker colleges, which were running without high-quality curriculum and teachers is not a problem. Today, if students are not taking interest in IT than they should do so because even if they go to a bank or to a hospital or media they need to be familiar with technology. In today's world and in the future world, every company is going to be a digital company. IT is now a horizontal subject that cuts across every single vertical. So, I will urge students that no matter what their aspiration is, they will have to know digital technologies and how to work it.