IT sector faces manpower crisis

West Bengal is running the risk of facing a serious mismatch between the human capital available in the state and the requirement.

Speaking at the industry academia meet for IT and ITES sector, organised by CII, Nasscom and government of West Bengal, G D Gautama, state IT secretary said that the manpower requirement for the IT sector would be around 1.75 lakh and for the ITES 2.3 lakh by 2009.

However, the human capital was not braced to meet such huge requirements and a solution would have to be worked out.

B Muthuraman, chairman CII eastern region said West Bengal had numerous institutes imparting technical education, churning out a large number of bright, young students every year. However, it is sometimes noticed that there is a gap between what is taught and what industry really wanted.

"This dichotomy requires us to review the system in the light of changing demand and supply mechanisms in the market" he said.

Representatives from the sector highlighted their requirements. Ganesh Natrajan. deputy chairman and managing director Zensar Technologies said that the industry and academia should build a course together and the focus should be on domain skills and architecture rather than programming.

Anup Singh, director ITC emphasised the need for institutions to introduce certification like CMM Level 5.

Roopen Roy, managing director PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also echoed the need for certification.

He said that global companies should consider embedding their programmes in the form of certification as certain elective courses in institutions.

Roy also pointed out that parameters of measurement should not be restricted to quantity. There were 39 private engineering colleged in the state but, the measures of quality should also be adhered to.

Chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharya said, the annual intake of undergraduate students in different colleges including engineering colleges in increasing every year.

The state government through its education department has established the West Bengal university of technology under which 67 affiliated institutions across the state have been functioning.