IT Sector Facing Shortage Of Skilled Manpower

Information Technology Minister Andimuthu Raja had exuded confidence a few weeks back that exports from the IT and ITeS sector would reach $80 billion by 2011. But the industry is worried whether their prospects would be short-circuited by the severe shortage of skilled manpower. A survey conducted by Nasscom pointed out that over 850,000 IT services and 1.4 million ITES-BPO professionals would be in demand by 2010. However, out of the 4.4 lakh technical graduates, nearly 2.3 million other graduates and over three lakh post-graduates every year, only a quarter of the technical graduates and a little more than a tenth of the general college graduates are found suitable.

If shortage of skilled graduates plagues the entry level, the middle level management faces a severe crunch due to attrition. Outgoing NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik raised a basic issue while articulating on poor talent pool.