India's IT services companies are staring at a year full of challenges on several fronts—politics, economy and business. The $150-billion Indian IT industry was already going through low growth and 2017 could only be tougher. Here are five signs that point at a bleak 2017 for the tech giants:Software association Nasscom has lowered IT export growth target to 8-10 per cent for 2016-17 amid global macroeconomic headwinds. At the start of the year, Nasscom had projected 10-12 per cent growth rate for Indian software services, including the business process management, for the current fiscal. Nasscom expects the incremental revenue addition to be between $8-10 billion in 2016-17, against $10 billion in 2015-16. While the short-term political and economic uncertainties could last over the next two quarters, challenges will remain throughout the year.The heads of Wipro and Infosys have written to their employees on the year ahead, hinting at potential challenges for India's IT industry. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji spoke of recent political events that might "shape a world of exclusion, conflict and suspicion" ahead. These developments can pose a risk to the IT industry. Premji said 2016 raised questions which could not be ignored. “These questions have arisen from developments in the political arena, from the fast-unfolding environmental crisis and from forces that want to shape the world into a place of exclusion, conflict and suspicion." The victory of Donald Trump and his anti-outsourcing plans, and, of course, Brexit have indeed raised concerns for IT industry. Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka urged employees to embrace automation and be innovative to survive the rapid and disruptive changes in the world of technology. He said that Indian IT industry could no longer thrive only on cost arbitrage. "So as I think about all this...we need to harness the dual forces of automation and innovation," he said.Donald Trump's anti-outsourcing, protectionist agenda poses a grave threat to a globalised industry such IT services. The 1990 H-1B visa programme, Trump's pet punching bag, allows US employers to import up to 65,000 foreign workers with highly specialised knowledge. However, top users of the H-1B visa are mainly Indian outsourcing companies. Tightening of visa norms will push up the cost of doing business. The US accounts for around 60 per cent of export earnings of Indian IT companies.Uncertainty created by the UK's exit from the EU is another challenge for Indian IT companies. Infosys had to to shift about 3,000 employees when Royal Bank of Scotland deferred its plan to create a separate bank in the UK. Brexit will remain a big disruption for Indian companies with uncertainty looming over their European clients.Automation, cloud and other new technologies are going to hit revenues of Indian IT companies. These factors will slow down outsourcing activity as more and more clients will explore investments in new technology as an alternative to using Indian services. Experts see a 3 per cent contraction in revenue this year on account of clients choosing new technology over outsourcing to Indian companies.