Short of hands

The IT-ITeS sector faces "employable" worker shortage, and the situation could worsen by 2010.

The shortage of skilled (read employable) IT workers is severe and will worsen by 2010. Nasscom has repeatedly cautioned that while technology jobs will double to 1.7 million over the next four years, the Indian IT industry could face a shortfall of around half-a-million workers over the same period.

Moreover, while the Indian ITeS-BPO industry is growing rapidly "" having clocked export revenues of $6.3 billion in FY2005-06 "", only about 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of general college graduates are suitable for employment in the offshore IT and BPO industries, respectively.

A study based on the perception of HR managers worldwide concluded that only one in four Indian engineering graduates is "actually employable."

The Indian Software and Services sector (excluding ITeS-BPO) accounted for $17.3 billion in 2005-06 and employed 8.78 lakh workers. Over 1.2 lakh employees were added in the last fiscal.

Leading MNC IT companies have operations in India, accounting for 16 per cent of their delivery capabilities in offshore locations with India accounting for 70 per cent of the total offshore employee base. How does one fill the gap if a significant number of employees are "not employable"?

Nasscom, on its part, took a step in this direction when it announced the national rollout of the Nasscom Assessment of Competence (NAC) with the government of Rajasthan, making the state the first one to roll out NAC.

Nasscom and Hewitt, with active participation of ITeS-BPO industry players, designed NAC, a national assessment and certification programme, which is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent by transforming the "trainable" workforce into an "employable workforce".

NAC aims to address the potential talent shortage by creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent through a standard assessment and certification process.

TCS, too, recently unveiled its Talent Transformation (TCS T2) which aims to transform science graduates into global software professionals by getting graduates from disciplines other than engineering into the global technology services industry.

It is targeting 2,000 science graduates over the next year under this programme. One hopes this is just the start of many more such ventures.

SNIPPETS

Domestic shift
Even as the IT and ITeS sectors have traditionally been associated with exports, there is a welcome shift in thinking as this recent Nasscom and IDC study suggests.

It states the domestic IT services and ITeS-BPO sectors are slated to touch Rs 15,604 crore and Rs 6,608 crore respectively by the end of 2006, out of which only 45 per cent would go out to IT services providers while the rest would consist of training costs of in-house IT staff and associated overheads.

Unlike the IT services exports market where price arbitrage plays an important role, the domestic market will be driven more by access to specialist skills and helping businesses free up their scarce resources for focusing on core business activities.

The study notes that IT services and ITeS-BPO players urgently need to work together with customers, government and other stakeholders to remove some of the perceived inhibitors and help develop a conducive environment for healthy, long-term growth of the domestic industry.

Security act
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2000 aimed at checking information theft and online frauds.

The new provisions include greater emphasis on digital signatures, new security practices and procedures for e-governance and other technology applications. Parliamentary approval is awaited.

The amendments are aimed at preventing computer misuse such as voyeurism, identity theft, e-commerce frauds like phishing, frauds on online auction sites, sending offensive e-mail and multimedia offences.

Moreover, service providers or "intermediaries" shall not be liable under any law for any third-party information, data, or link made available, except when the intermediary has conspired or abetted in the commission of the unlawful act.