ICT and Employment in India: A Sectoral Level Analysis

TL;DR

This paper examines how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) impacts employment and productivity across different sectors in India, highlighting ICT's role as a transformative general purpose technology with broad economic implications.

Contribution

It provides a sectoral level analysis of ICT's influence on employment and productivity in India, emphasizing ICT's role as a key driver of economic change.

Findings

ICT investment ratio increased significantly across sectors.

ICT's role as a general purpose technology influences employment patterns.

Sectoral differences in ICT's impact on productivity.

Abstract

How technology affects growth or employment has long been debated. With a hiatus, the debate revived once again in the form of how Information and Communications Technology, as a form of new technology, exerts on productivity and employment. Information and Communications Technology perceived as General Purpose Technology like steam engine or electricity in the past, ushered the world into a new techno-economic paradigm, given its deep social, economic and cultural implications. For instance, within economic implication, it is hard to imagine an economic activity that does not it, directly or indirectly. Eventually, Information and Communications Technology intensity, measure as the ratio of Information and Communications Technology investment to total investment, increased phenomenally in industries across sectors.