Nasscom bullish on IT job opportunities

Monday, 17 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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MUMBAI: Despite the slowdown in the IT sector, the demand for software professionals in India is expected to increase to 1.1 million by 2008 as against an anticipated workforce of only 885,000, Nasscom said Friday. Releasing its annual survey on employment in the IT industry, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said jobs grew at an estimated 24.4 percent in 2002-03 to touch 650,000 from the previous year's total of 522,250. Of these, 205,000 were employed in the software exports industry, 160,000 in IT enabled services (ITES), 25,000 in the domestic software market and over 260,000 in user organisations. According to Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, the body would expand to the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. In the offing are plans to hold an annual Nasscom event in eastern India and to make Kolkata the hub for IT activities in the east and northeast. Considering the median age of software professionals was about 26.5 years, Karnik also revealed plans for discounts and incentives to companies to send younger representatives to Nasscom sessions. Seventy-nine percent of employees of software companies were men and 21 percent were women, the survey revealed. This was totally reversed in the ITES sector, where the ratio of males to females was 35:65. There was an average of eight percent rise in basic salaries during 2002, with most companies increasingly adopting the variable pay concept to link pay to revenues and control costs. Hiring of new IT professionals was the highest in south India at 44 percent and lowest in the eastern region at six percent. The survey also revealed that 76 percent of all software professionals had a graduate degree or higher, 13 percent had degrees like M.Tech, MBA, CA, ICWA, 62 percent had a B.Tech, BE or MCA and 23 percent were diploma holders.
Source: IANS
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