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2021 NASSCOM CEO Survey - Tech Industry Outlook

The global pandemic hit every nation, disrupting business as usual for almost all the industries, causing others to rapidly pivot from in-person to digital and forcing millions of people into work-from-home situations, much of which is likely to persist well into 2021. For many companies, COVID-19 did deep damage, forcing leaders to adopt new strategies to weather the ongoing storm. 
In January 2021, NASSCOM began soliciting responses from industry leaders, as part of its annual exercise this year, through its “NASSCOM 2021 CEO Survey: The Year of Many Possibilities”. The survey underlines the perspective of Indian CEOs towards global and Indian economies. Our aim was to get a high-level insight into the sentiments of CEOs to understand the industry’s perception of the overall global economy, outlook on global technology spending, key growth segments, market growth drivers, Indian tech industry outlook, capability development focus and talent hiring trends.
The participants of the 2-months long survey were ~120 CEOs from Large & Small Indian IT companies, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) and Start-ups. Out of the total respondents, 55% were part of the firms generating annual revenue of USD <100 million, 22% generating annual revenue of USD 100 million-1 billion and the remaining 23% generating annual revenue of USD 1 billion.

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Key Findings

Economic Outlook

  • 97% CEOs believe that the global economy will be better in 2021 as compared to 2020
  • India expected to be one of the best performing economies, growing by over 11%
  • Healthcare, pharma, medical devices and software & internet verticals to be the key growth segments whereas larger digitization deals and growth in core markets (BFSI, retail, etc.) to be prominent growth drivers in 2021
Technology Spending

  • 71% CEOs expect global tech spend to grow by more than 4%, demonstrating the highest ever confidence in tech spending growth 
  • Robotics, Advanced analytics/AI, cybersecurity, RPA/robotics and IoT will be the key technology focus areas in 2021
  • Re-designing organizations, enhancing customer experience, and unlocking growth opportunities are the top customer spend themes for technology in 2021
Indian Technology Industry

  • India expected to be one of the best performing economies, growing by over 11%
  • Highest ever confidence on revenue growth over the last 3 years – 91% CEOs believe that the IT-BPM growth will be better in 2021 compared to 2020
  • IT services, software products, ER&D, and BPM will be the key growth services line in 2021 in the same order
Hiring Outlook/Hybrid Work Model

  • 95% CEOs to continue hiring in 2021, demonstrating highest ever confidence in Tech hiring outlook; Higher prevalence of hybrid model and gig workers in 2021
  • 70% CEOs expect remote workers to constitute up-to 50% workforce in 2021
  • Reskilling and building the right talent pool, products and platforms, and new business models (risk-reward, onshore) are the top capability building priorities in 2021

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