Indian Companies might offshore high end IT services: Gartner

Bangalore, Jun 11 (UNI) Indian organisations facing the daunting challenge of an IT skills shortage and "second-class" treatment from local service providers must consider offshore outsourcing to obtain high-end IT services, according to consulting firm Gartner.

''India is witnessing a severe shortage of skilled IT resources at all levels'' said Linda Cohen, Vice President and distinguished analyst for Gartner's IT sourcing group.

Gartner in a release said demand for skilled IT personnel by initiatives like the Indian government's recent National E-Governance Program (NEGP) and resource hungry Indian offshore service providers were outstripping local supply adding that rapid economic growth in India was exacerbating the problem.

It said local Chief Information Officers (CIOs) were finding it difficult to manage the shortage of skilled local IT resources as internal business units become even more demanding in the area of IT requirements and schedules.

"Local service providers lack adequate focus on the Indian domestic market, widening the demand-supply gap by not allocating enough quality resources for Indian customers," said Ms Cohen.

"Service providers typically allocate the best resources to their global flagship customers that pay in dollars and yield better margins. This is particularly true with Indian service providers" she added.

Gartner said India was undergoing massive economic growth with the GDP growing at 9.2 percent in fiscal year 2007, which was second only to China among the major economies of the world. A recent Gartner survey conducted among more than 1,400 CIOs worldwide showed that IT budgets in India had the highest growth of 16.19 percent, compared with an average of 3.16 percent in the rest of the world.

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