The Hindu Business Line : `IT sector may need $2.6 b to train 1 m professionals in 3 yrs'

EVEN as the education system churns out three million graduates and 4 lakh engineers every year, the IT industry may have to spend up to $2.6 billion in training an additional one million professionals over the next three years to make them employable in IT services and BPO sectors.

"By the end of this financial year, the Indian IT industry would employ close to 1.3 million people. India will need an incremental one million professionals in the next three years to meet its growth targets. For this, IT and ITES industry will need to spend $2.6 billion to train these people," Mr Mohandas Pai, Chief Financial Officer of Infosys Technologies, said.

On the IT services side, companies would need to add 4,00,000 professionals during this period, for which the players would have to spend close to $2 billion in training, while the manpower requirement for BPO would be higher at 6,00,000. For BPO professionals, at $1000 per head, the training bill could well climb to $600 million.

"The supply of talent from colleges is available even today, but the problem is that they are not trained in line with the industry's growing requirements," he said. Mr Pai called for functional changes in the education system, which is currently fraught with issues such an outdated engineering curriculum, and non-availability of faculty. "Companies need to engage with the education system to improve the curriculum," he added.

According to the Nasscom Vice-President, Mr Sunil Mehta, the employability ratio for IT services and IT Enabled Services is only 15 per cent. "Of 100 applicants, on an average only 15 are hired. To expand this number we need to invest in in-house training programmes," he said.

Mr Pai said that as a first step to correct the existing situation, Government should have greater private participation in technical professional colleges. "In addition, good engineering colleges that have 10 years of experience and rating from an accreditation agency should be allowed to double capacity," he pointed out.

Moreover, the Government "should not place restriction on fee and bring control, as it will put artificial restriction on their ability to grow. He expressed concern that education limited to vernacular languages was destroying the labour mobility at a time when globally jobs are being created in English. With rivals such as China and Eastern Europe snapping at its heels, India has been facing daunting challenges including addressing the imbalance in the demand and supply of skilled and talented workforce.

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