Are we serious about our IT industry?

Digital (re)skilling is required to meet the expected labour demand for Nepal’s “billion dollar” IT industry.

There are a few noteworthy things in the mainstream discourse about Nepal’s IT services industry. First, this industry has grown not because of, but in spite of, the Government of Nepal (GoN). Next, despite the social media hype, the industry is still in its infancy and nowhere near the mechanically cited “half-billion dollar industry”. Further, realising exponential growth in export-oriented IT services is the most immediate and achievable option to accelerate sustainable, equitable and inclusive job growth over the short-to-medium term.