Global Capability Centres today significantly account for the IT industry’s contribution to GDP, as per Neelkanth Mishra, Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Executive Director-Designate, World Bank.Speaking on the sidelines of an Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) event on the progress of India’s IT sector, Mishra noted how the services export growth was 15 per cent in dollar terms in April, growing faster than GDP. Addressing queries around the churn in the sector with the advent of AI, Mishra said, “Over the past year, services exports have been nearly 20% of India’s incremental GDP. So, the issue is that the organisational boundary itself may be shifting because of AI.”He attributed this to a reversal of earlier trends wherein tasks that were earlier outsourced by companies are insourced today.“Does that mean that there is no risk going forward? No, there is significant risk. There is a significant amount of transition that all of these IT services companies need to go through in terms of reskilling of people,” acknowledging that the job churn is still in progress.However, he argued that as the cost of writing software falls, the amount of software written goes up. This in turn will require more software engineers in the ecosystem.“On the whole, it does seem to me that the Jevons paradox. If XYZ company spending $100 million on writing software can do it in $70 million and fire some people, that is their business plan. But if the amount of software written goes up 3-4 times, the number of software engineers in the ecosystem will not change.”Speaking as World Bank official, Mishra also listed key priorities such as using the World Bank’s expertise in a whole range of areas, including education, healthcare and agriculture, to help some of the poorer Indian states which have weak state capacity to develop faster.Published on July 2, 2026