Chennai, April 18 (Inditop) Though the financial sector has started showing some signs of recovery from the global meltdown, the IT industry in the country will take some more time to regain the growth momentum, a top industry official said here saturday.

“The crisis started in the financial sector and recovery also seems to be happening first in that sector,” S. Gopalakrishnan, deputy chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-southern region, told reporters here Saturday.

“IT growth will be near flat in the near future. Probably, there will be pick up early next year. When that happens, outsourcing should go up,” Gopalakrishnan, also the chief executive of Infosys Technologies, added.

He said Infosys would hire around 18,000 employees this year.

“We are honouring our promise made to the campus recruits. Appointment letters with joining dates have been sent to the candidates,” Gopalakrishnan said.