Artificial intelligence may be disrupting India's $280-billion IT services industry today, but the technology could ultimately create its next wave of growth rather than destroy it, according to Rohan Korde, Fund Manager at Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.The fund house believes the recent correction in IT stocks reflects concerns over tariffs, AI-led disruption and weak near-term earnings guidance, but says the long-term opportunity lies in the industry's transition from pilot AI projects to large-scale enterprise deployments.
Korde sees emerging demand for data engineering, cybersecurity, cloud integration, specialised semiconductor infrastructure and AI-enabled hardware as potential growth drivers, even if traditional revenue streams come under pressure.
While the existing revenue pools may get impacted, every disruption provides an opportunity as well, as has been witnessed in the past, he said in an interview with ETMarkets.Edited excerpts from a chat:The government’s policy thrust is firmly behind manufacturing, yet you are more bullish on services.
What is the market underestimating about the services opportunity?While there has been a visible thrust on the manufacturing sector through various measures such as introduction of Production Linked Incentives (PLI) and promoting Make in India, it is also quite noticeable that the service sector has not been ignored.
