IT sector to hire 200,000 in 2005

Predicting that the Indian IT industry was likely to add two lakh employees this year, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik on Tuesday said the association was working on the image of BPO industry and would create a data base of people in the industry.

"BPO industry has been painted badly. The industry is not a disaster area. You cannot say something is bad without analysing the full details. Nasscom will work towards projecting the image of the industry, which offers huge potential for growth," Karnik said addressing the National HR summit 2005 on 'Capacity Building and Talent Management' in Chennai.

He said the major concerns of the industry were quality of graduates and the shortage of faculty in every college.  "Nurturing and growing talent is critical. Quality of teaching and faculty have to be enhanced," he added.

Another important area for focus would be improvement in the skills of graduates churned out by educational institutions.

"Presently, the turnout is very poor and the skill set don't match with the industry's requirements. We have created certification courses for BPO industry to improve the soft skills. We will also bring people from abroad to measure the capabilities of these people," Karnik added.

He said Nasscom would be focusing on addressing the apprehensions on the BPO industry among the parents and faculty.

"The world over, night shifts are common and it was not a new phenomenon. We are also planning some kind of interactive and counseling programmes for the young people on how to manage money, stress etc," he added.