Indian software cos may import engineers!

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 05 August 2010, 23:34 IST   |    69 Comments
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Indian software cos may import engineers!
Bangalore: As the software engineering services is projected to be a $45-50-billion export business in a decade, Indian companies may have to import engineers to tap the opportunity. According to the Nasscom-Booz Allen study of the sector, importing engineers to manage the scalability of operations will be necessary as the industry is showing a rapid industry, reports Gouri Agtey Athale from Economic Times. Ketan Bakshi, CMD of Neilsoft said, "Bringing in overseas people will be necessary because of severe talent shortage. By 2020, Indian software engineering services companies will need to bring in 25-30 percent of engineering talent from abroad, since there is a huge shortage of trained people now in India. And, as Indian engineering services companies step up their global presence to meet that $45-billion market opportunity, that shortage will only increase." Bakshi estimates that nearly 1-1.5 million people will be needed by engineering services companies alone, of which about 250,000-plus, will have to come from elsewhere. Supporting the views by Bakshi, Samir Yajnik, President, global services and Chief Operating Officer, Asia-Pacific, Tata Technologies said, "If we are to meet those $45-billion targets by 2020, then we will definitely face a manpower shortage in the next few years." The other issue which will require the import of people is the lack of bandwidth, Bakshi said. "Indian companies do not have the bandwidth to handle the kind of infrastructure projects that are coming up, so they will have to get expertise from abroad," he said. The trick, both agreed, is to manage the scalability of operations and that is something industry is addressing, each in its own way.