With automation taking control across industries, a report suggests that by next year in 2022, the IT Industry which employs about 16 MN employees can undergo a job cut as massive as three million. The move is expected to save a whopping USD 100 billion mostly in salaries annually, says a report.

NASSCOM noted that the current domestic IT sector employs around 16 MN of which around 9 million are employed in low-skilled services and BPO roles. Of these 9 million low-skilled services and BPO roles, 30 percent or around 3 MN will be lost by 2022, principally driven by the impact of Robot Process Automation or RPA. 

"TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant and others appear to be planning for a 3 million reduction in low-skilled roles by 2022 because of RPA up-skilling. "This is a USD 100-billion in reduced salary and other costs, but on the flip side, it offers a likely a USD 10 BN boon for IT companies that successfully implement RPA, and another a USD5 billion opportunity from a vibrant new software niche by 2022. Given that robots can function for 24 hrs a day, this represents a significant saving of up to 10:1 versus the human labor,” says the report.

The report by Bank of America states that almost 0.7 percent of roles are expected to replaced by RPA alone and the rest due to other technological upgrades. The report also highlights that how RPA will have the worst impact in the US with a loss of almost one million jobs.

The report goes onto warn that emerging economies mostly India and China face the most risk of technology-driven disruptions which can impact up 85 percent of jobs in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh. India and China are at the greatest risk of skills disruption, while ASEAN, the Persian Gulf, and Japan are at the least risk.