IT flexi staffing industry worth $3.04 bn in fiscal 2017

The IT flexi staffing industry has been valued at $3.04 billion in fiscal 2017, according to the Indian IT Staffing Industry Landscape report.

The report which is compiled by KPMG on behalf of the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) highlights the scale and status of the IT staffing industry in India.

The report projects, the flexi staffing market to grow at 14-16 per cent per annum for the next five years. India, which is a significant contributor to APAC IT staffing industry, comprises 28 per cent of it, which means there is a huge opportunity for freelancers and consultants especially in the IT domain.

The penetration rate of flexi workforce in IT with respect to the total IT workforce in India is only 5.6 per cent.

As per the study, the IT staffing industry is the highest contributor to flexi staffing in India and is also on the cusp of a massive transformation as new technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud, analytics, Internet of Things, etc kick in.

The demand for niche skill sets for new technologies as also meeting current business requirements are the two main factors that will boost the hiring of IT flexi staff.

On time delivery and upscaling are the other two factors expected to drive the growth of IT flexi staffing. "The pace at which IT sector is evolving, bench model of the industry where full time employees are kept on standby in expectation of new projects, is vanishing, " Business Styandard quoted  says Rituparna Chakraborty, president, Indian Staffing Federation.

Companies have fundamentally started opting for flexi staff to have flexibility and competitive edge over others," says Rituparna Chakraborty, president, Indian Staffing Federation.

IT flexi-staff is hired for service tenure of 6-12 months. According to the report, Karnataka is the largest IT flexi-staffing market at $1.05 billion.

Even as IT companies continue to struggle to meet the training requirements of employees in newer areas of technology, the staffing industry believes the gap can be bridged by providing employees trained in the relevant areas of technology.

''The IT industry relies a lot on contingent labour. The jobs in the sector are getting morphed. While the IT industry used to work on the concept of bench earlier, these days most companies are realising that the model is not competitive,'' said Chakraborty," Reported The Indian Express quoting, Chakraborty.