Clear mandate augurs well for IT industry: TCS

Bangalore, May 17 (IANS) A clear mandate for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections augured well for the Indian IT industry, which expects the new government to adopt technology faster to generate new business, a top executive of IT bellwether TCS said Saturday.

"I expect the new government to adopt technology faster, which will enable the domestic IT market to pick up, as we will have a stable government with a clear mandate to govern well," Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief executive T. Chandrasekaran told reporters here.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Friday secured 339 out of 543 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha elections, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting 282 for the first time.

"We need to wait till September for a revival in the corporate sector across the board. I also expect our India business to pick up soon, given the clear mandate the people gave to the BJP-led NDA," Chandrasekaran said.

Noting that the poll outcome was important for the country, he said as the mandate was clear and decisive, he was positive that things would pick up sooner.

"I expect a lot of growth, as the country will adopt digital technologies much more than in the past. The government will also use technology significantly," he said.

Once a new government is formed, a lot of activities will happen and growth will pick up in the later part of this fiscal, he noted.

The Indian IT industry progressed sufficiently in revenues and profits despite slow growth over the last two years due to a deprecating rupee, as its income is mainly from exports in foreign currencies.

"Though the rupee will witness some appreciation, we do not know how far it will strengthen against the dollar. It is better to wait for a month to see where the rupee will be and what kind of margin pressures it will have," Chandrasekaran noted.

At the same time, it remains to be seen what kind of impact a strengthening rupee will have on the export-oriented IT industry.

"A volatile rupee is not good and a highly depreciating rupee is also not good (for the economy). We need stability in rupee value," he added.