Nasscom sticks to export growth forecast despite mixed IT results.

NEW DELHI: Software industry body Nasscom will not budge from its export growth forecast for the next few months, its new chairman said after a mixed bag of results and management commentary from India's top IT services providers for the January-March quarter.

N Chandrasekaran, who is also the chief executive officer of India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said it is "not prudent" to change the forecast based on one quarter's performance.

"For this year we are sticking to the forecast of 11-14%. October will be the time that we will come up for a review," he said.

Chandrasekaran, whose company's sales account for about one-tenth of the industry's revenue of $100 billion (Rs 5.2 lakh crore), took over as chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies from NIIT's Rajendra Pawar.

The concerns about expansion in exports became pronounced after Infosys, India's second-largest software company whose forecasts are watched keenly as pointers for the industry, said it expects to grow by only 8-10% in the financial year to March 2013. Wipro has said it does not expect any growth in the second quarter but is optimistic about the rest of the year.

Chandrasekaran refused to get drawn into commenting about revenue projections of individual companies.

TCS does not provide growth forecasts, and has been more upbeat in its commentary than Infosys, as has HCL Technologies. But Chandrasekaran has been quoted as saying that TCS hopes to beat the Nasscom forecast of 11-14% in revenues by this year-end.

Chandrasekaran, who started his career at TCS in 1987, said that while the business model of Indian IT companies is still relevant, there are some fundamental changes underway in the industry.

"We are seeing a shift from outcome-based to a cloud-based and more predictable fee-based business models. Just because Indian IT companies have an attractive business model, it might not work. It has to time well with change in customer mindset." Problems with visa denials and other regulatory measures will continue as long as there is high unemployment in markets that software firms address, he said.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com