Nact Pitches For Industry Tag

The National Association of Computer Trainers (NACT) is pitching strongly to get an industry status for computer training institutes. It has already written to the government-constituted IT task force on the issue.

NACT, established in 1991, currently has over 900 members.

Irked by the fact that the IT task force's action plan has totally ignored the training organisations, NACT president Suresh G Bharwani, said, "The government has not even considered us. Point no 19 of the task force's action plan, which defines IT services, does not include training centres in the scope of the definition. The consequences are that the entire training and education segment cannot avail of income tax, customs, excise and bank loan facilities." Even nationalised banks do not undertake funding of computer training institutes.

NACT has raised issues like laying down clear definitions of IT software and services, including training institutes, so that such companies can avail of tax benefits; inclusion of NACT in the national council for IT education, and consulting NACT in all deliberations and programmes, projects and institutions related to education and training proposed to be set up by the task force.

"We have written to the IT task force and are waiting for a reply," Bharwani said.

The government has set a target of one computer for every 50 individuals by the year 2008. Currently, the figure is languishing at one computer for every 1,000 individuals. "We play an important role in the education process," he added.

Squeezed by minimal margins (10- 20 per cent) and the rapidly growing number of software, the institutes feel the pinch every time they have to upgrade their centres. The operational costs work out roughly to Rs 40-50 lakh per year. Also, there is no co-relation between the revenues earned per computer terminal and the investments made in the software upgradation per terminal.

To add to its woes, several multinationals are planning to enter this segment. Novell, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and other MNCs have tied up with local players like Jetking, Aptech and Datapro as authorised training centres.

"To match international standards, we need to invest more and constantly upgrade our software. This becomes difficult without the availability of loans," Bharwani said.