IT services jobs to grow 23% in FY04: Nasscom

By siliconindia staff writer   |   Thursday, 26 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Jobs in India’s booming software services sector are estimated to grow 23% in the year to March ‘04, as the sector benefits from outsourcing by global clients, an industry association said on Wednesday. The sector, which includes high-end technology consulting, back-office and call centre work, is expected to employ some 813,500 people at the end of March, up from 661,000 a year ago, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in its annual strategy report. The number of jobs in India’s IT and back-office services sectors has multiplied five-fold over seven years, the report said. Exports from the industry, whose main market is the US, are forecast to rise between 26 and 28% to around $12 bn, up from $9.5bn in the previous year. About $8.4 bn is expected to come from software services. The industry is estimated to employ 568,000 people by the end of March, up 16% on the year. Exports from back-office services are seen rising 54% to $3.5 bn in the year to March ‘04. Giants like IBM, with an Indian headcount of around 10,000, and Accenture, which is expected to double staff to that number by ‘05, are expanding furiously. Call centres have been hiring youths by the thousands for the past four years. India’s English-speaking workforce is attracting foreign firms, but utsourcing has become politically charged as jobs leave countries such as the US. Using high-speed telecoms, India-based firms offer services including insurance claims processing, payroll accounting, data tabulation and equity research to clients or overseas parents located halfway around the world. India’s back-office industry is expected to employ 245,500 people by the end of March, up about 44% from a year ago.

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