IT industry set to grow 7-9% in FY19: Nasscom

HYDERABAD: India’s software services exports will see revenue growth of 7-9% in constant currency terms in the fiscal year to March 2019, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) forecast on Tuesday, as the industry continues to recover from what has been a tough year.

The forecast, put out at the annual summit of Nasscom, is in line with the 7.8% revenue growth it expects in the six months to the end of March 2018.

The country’s $154-billion information technology sector has been buffeted by a broader slowdown in technology spending, while uncertainty looms over work visa rules in the US, the biggest market for Indian software services firms.

US President Donald Trump has so far not made any drastic changes to the H-1B visa programme, widely used by Indian companies to bring engineers and developers to the US.

“The current outlook is one of cautious optimism,” said Nas- scom president R Chandrashekhar in a statement.

“There is still some turbulence and it is not clear how some of the known uncertainties will play out. However, FY 2019 is likely to be a better year, based on our current assessment.”

Major firms such as Infosys and Wipro have posted improved earnings in the January-march quarter and IT executives in Hyderabad also expressed optimism about a continued recovery as the sector diversifies into more lucrative digital segments such as cloud computing and big data. MUMBAI: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Tuesday said it will buy a 5% stake in NYSE listed Eros International Plc (Eros) through a subsidiary.

RIL will pay $15 per Eros International share, which represents an 18% premium to Friday’s closing price.

The two parties will invest up to ₹1,000 crore each to produce and acquire Indian films and digital originals across all languages, RIL said.

In a statement, RIL chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said the tie-up will bring further synergies to the firm’s plans, making for a win-win partnership.

Alongside, Eros chief executive officer Jyoti Deshpande will be stepping down to head RIL’S media and entertainment business.

Deshpande will join RIL this April but will continue to remain as a non-executive director on the board of Eros.

RIL and Eros International Media Ltd will partner to jointly produce and consolidate content from across India.