The Hindu Business Line : Nasscom plans to prepare ‘career guide’

Career mission: Dr Raj Reddy (left), Chairman, Governing Board of IIIT-H, with Mr Som Mittal, President of Nasscom, at the 10th Foundation day of IIIT-H, at Madhaopur near Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Sept. 2 The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) announced that it plans to come up with a comprehensive career guide to assist students and professionals to choose subjects based on what the industry requires.

Speaking to newspersons at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, the Nasscom President, Mr Som Mittal, said the nature and scope of the IT services landscape is witness to rapid changes. It is no longer just IT and BPO, it is transforming and taking new shape each passing day.

“Therefore, we have embarked on a mission to prepare a career guide in partnership with external agencies and domestic institutions. This will come out early next year and serve as a reference material in choosing a career,” he said.

For instance, technology support, remote infrastructure management and engineering services are hot areas requiring specialised skills. Therefore, career aspirants need to understand what they are required to know, he said.

$1 BILLION SPEND

Tech companies in India spend about 16-18 weeks training new recruits; investing about $1 billion on training alone. Nasscom and industry are looking at ways to reduce this to two weeks in the company. The rest will be done in the institute or college, he said.

The focus is on converting raw talent into employability with institutions themselves serving as finishing schools, he said

US OUTSOURCING

Referring to some recent speeches on the run up to US elections, Mr Mittal said “India will continue to play a very strategic role in outsourcing. It is part of the global supply chain and this is irreversible. It is not just about low cost but also about the value it adds to outsourcing companies.”

“However, we need to guard against complacency as the next $50 billion will be much tougher to add,” he said.

On the issue of one of the presidential candidates stating the preference of business would be given to local (US) companies, Mr Mittal said US enterprises were free to decide on where to outsource from. Having tasted India advantage, they will not look beyond.

TALENT CRUNCH

Many countries including the US, Japan and Europe are faced with shortage of IT manpower and India could well play a very important link, he said.

IT sector exports contribute to 5.5 per cent of the GDP and 25 per cent of overall India’s exports and there is potential for upside. The sector will grow by about 21-24 per cent this year, he said.

On some concerns about the slowdown, he said the country’s economy is growing at about 7.5-8 per cent. This is better than most economies.

“India’s IT exports have grown at a compounded rate of 30 per cent. Last fiscal, IT exports added $9 billion to the overall exports and we are sure that we will be able to achieve this number this year too,” he said.

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