IT companies to face talent shortage by 2010

Bangalore, June 8 (UNI) NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik today cautioned that IT companies in the country were set to face a talent shortage of about five lakh by 2010.

Announcing the completion of the pilot phase of the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) program and its national rollout from November at a press conference here, he said ''Our aim is to tap talent from all parts of the country and in this process initially NAC was conducted in eight cities. It will now be extended to 30 cities.'' He said there was a overwhelming response to the NAC, launched in August 2005, in association with Hewitt, and active participation of over 20 ITeS-BPO industry players.

Mr Karnik said NAC aimed at addressing the possible talent shortage by creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent through a standard assessment and certification. ''This will provide insights into the real training and development needs of talent and hence help companies, Governments and Universities develop custmoised talent development initiatives and programs,'' he added.

Stating that BPO alone would face talent shortage of 3.5 lakh by 2010, he said the education system need to be improved to face the challenge. English should be taught at all levels. ''Learning in Regional language may be good for children, but learning English should not be ignored. It should be taught from the primary level itself,'' he added.

Mr Karnik said ''One of key focus areas during the last year has been to build NAC as an industry certification that integrates industry requirements with University and college courses, on the lines of GMAT, SAT and GRE examinations. We expect over a lakh young job aspirants to appear for NAC in the first year of its nationl roll-out.'' UNI MSP RG TS1800