In mid-July this year, 25-year-old Gopikrishna jumped to his death from a balcony in the western Indian city of Pune.
He left a suicide note that said he was scared of losing his job.
Social activist, Elavarasan Raja said Gopikrishna’s death was the third case of its kind in just two months and it has encouraged workers to demand more rights.
“He mentioned in his suicide note that there is no job security in the IT sector,” Mr Raja told Deutsche Welle.
The IT sector in India accounts for 7 per cent of GDP, but companies are struggling and reducing staff numbers.
The Indian government denies there is a crisis, but some industry watchers say the future could see half a million layoffs in the sector.
The city of Pune is home to a dense tech company population, but since January this year, thousands of IT employees have lost their jobs.
Many of them say they were pressured to resign and have minimal work options afterwards.
“It’s a very desperate situation, at this time, even techies at the age of 25 because of all the pressure even you can see they have started doing suicide,” one Pune IT worker, who did not want to be named, told Deutsche Welle.
Analysts say the sector may be restructuring as US President Donald Trump moves to end outsourcing jobs away from America.
Economists at Pune University say there could be a silver lining to the restructure.
“There could also be a positive side to it because what has happened in the last 15 or 20 years, is that the focus has only been on the highly educated, upper middle class Indians and millions and millions of lowly educated, unskilled Indians have been ignored,” Dhanmanjari Sathe, an economist at the University of Pune, told Deutsche Welle.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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