NEW DELHI: There was a time not long ago when being a techie was a matter of great pride. Working with an information technology (IT) company was not only lucrative but was also a status symbol. But today the Indian IT industry is facing several challenges which has taken the sheen off this prestigious corporate sector. Working with a technology company in India today is fraught with risks.Below are four challenges that indicate a difficult future for India's IT companies, at least in the short term.The country's third-largest software services firm Wipro is reported to have fired 600 employees as part of its annual performance appraisal. This comes nearly a month after Cognizant was reported to be planning to fire more than 6,000 employees as part of its regular appraisal cycle this year.An Assocham report says if the US restricts visas to IT workers, it would lead to major layoffs in Indian IT companies. While IBM has laid off hundreds of workers, Cisco and Microsoft too have announced layoffs all over the world. The job uncertainty has certainly dented the image of the industry.Country after country is restricting visas to Indian IT workers. Even as the US considers putting curbs on H1B visas, the UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand have already tightened the norms under which Indian IT companies take workers to their foreign sites. The visa restrictions will severely raise costs for these companies and hit their revenues.New technology is transforming the nature of business at IT companies. Increasing automation and cloud computing have hit revenues. Now there is less business in maintenance and software services, the traditional domain of Indian IT companies. This is a major reason for companies reducing their campus hiring in India.Plans at Cognizant to lay off more than 6,000 workers are due to a shift in business. New technology requires reskiling, and employees incapable of reskilling will be fired. Infosys had hired 5,000 people in April-December 2016 against 17,000 in the same period a year ago. Automation is reshaping its business too. The company released nearly 9,000 employees to other projects due to automation.The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector is getting more lucrative than the IT sector. After IT sector’s more than four-year monopoly, the BFSI sector is at the top rung for the first time with salary increments averaging 11.2%, according to Team-Lease Jobs and Salaries Primer: 2017. The report says project managers and credit analysts have emerged as the highest-paid profiles replacing old favourites IT and digital managers. As emerging sectors such as e-commerce evolve, the IT sector will begin to lose preference.