New Delhi: Hiring activity in the IT sector is likely to be muted this year, Infosys Co-founder and Executive Co-Chairman S Gopalakrishnan has said.

S Gopalakrishnan said that, "Hiring position seems to be muted this year because many companies still have deep bench (strength), in other words their utilization rate is still low".

The $100 billion India IT-ITES sector faced strong headwinds in 2012-13 due to global economic slowdown and muted spending in North America and Europe, which accounts for 80 percent of Indian IT company’s revenues.

Industry-body Nasscom expects a rise in global technology spending and opportunities created through adoption of disruptive technologies to propel growth in FY 2014.

Nasscom expects export revenues of $84-87 billion in 2013-14 fiscal at a growth rate of 12-14 percent. Exports were estimated to have grown by 10.2 percent to $75.8 billion in FY 2013.

The Indian IT industry, which contributes about 7.5 percent to the country's economy, gives direct employment to 25 lakh people.

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