New Delhi: Rising automation and low attrition in IT sector may act as a dampener for job seekers with industry body Nasscom expecting hiring to decline by up to 17 percent to 1,50,000 in the current fiscal.

The $108 billion Indian IT-ITeS sector provides employment to about 3 million professionals.

"I think we will have net additions of 150,000-180,000 this year. Last year it was about 180,000," Nasscom President Som Mittal told PTI when asked about the hiring environment.

Explaining the decline, he added: "It might be less than last year, as it is getting non-linear and lower-end jobs are getting automated. The profile is changing and we need more Domain experts."

Attrition levels have also come down to around 14-15 percent against the industry average of 20 per cent earlier.

Mittal also said that campus hiring may fall significantly due to change in hiring patterns.

"Campus hiring may be 60 percent of what it was last year," he said, adding that now employers are focusing more on soft skills and leadership qualities than on technical skills.

According to an analysis, three years back 80 percent focus was on technical skills "but now only 40 percent focus is on technical skills and the rest is on soft skills and Domain," Mittal said.

Hiring by India's four largest IT companies dropped by over 60 percent in the April-June quarter of this year.

The top four IT services exporters made net additions of about 4,100 to their workforce during the quarter this year, against around 10,900 in the year-ago period.

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