Automation set to affect 7 Lakh IT jobs by 2022

Automation is set to affect almost one-third of ‘low-skilled’ jobs, about 7 Lakh, in the Indian IT industry by 2022, according to a report published by US-based research firm Hfs Refresh.

The aggressive uptake of Robotic process automation or RPA and AI are the primary reasons for the reduction in headcount, research cited. Reports also add that RPA is merely accelerating the elimination of rote jobs while increasing the need of high-skilled jobs by 57%.

When it comes to automation, a lot has been changed in the last year. Automation has become the broadly-accepted efficiency tool for cost leverage with operations. RPA or robotic process automation has been embedded into every service provider’s delivery models, and every credible advisor has a practice that is working with multiple clients to make this happen.

Now-a-days, we can check what’s going on with automation AI, and accurately estimate how it is going to impact the services industry in the coming years.

Reports say that there will be impact but it is manageable based on various skills and values. The global IT and BPO services industry employs 16 million workers today. This would become 14.8 million by 2022 i.e. a likely decrease of 7.5%* in total workers, with countries like the US, UK, and India taking a hit.

The report also said that the number of medium and highskilled jobs is set to increase by 1 Lakh and 1.9 Lakh jobs respectively. There would be a net loss of 4.5 Lakh jobs in India by 2022 in all three skill categories.

 The report said that the benefits with the production of high-skilled jobs are set to grow 57 percent in the next five years. This is much close to 20 percent of the current IT force.

"While companies are taking time to build the impact of RPA into service contracts ... Time is on our side to manage the transition and train staff for the future," the report said.

“The next five years we can manage, it's the five after that when the impact on labor becomes much more challenging,” it added.