Nasscom says no more annual growth forecast; will only give guidance

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the IT industry body, on Wednesday said it is discontinuing the practice of giving out revenue growth forecast for the $180-billion industry. Nasscom will henceforth offer only guidance under which it is “cautiously optimistic” of FY20 given the increasing global macroeconomic headwinds.

The software body marked out growing protectionist tendencies and the lack of talent as key challenges facing the industry and arresting faster growth.

Nasscom chairman Rishad Premji said the decision not to offer a growth estimate number is taken “philosophically” by Nasscom, but underlined that it must not be connected with difficulties it sees for the current fiscal. He said there can be “deductions” based on the findings of the CEO survey and people can guess the industry’s performance based on that.