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12, 000 IT jobs wait for skilled techies in Guj

Lack of language skills and training among students graduating from state’s colleges makes it difficult to hire them, say experts.

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The Information Technology (IT) industry of Gujarat seems to be immune to the global slowdown. The Rs2,000-crore IT and Information Technology-Enabled Services (ITeS) —an exports industry — of Gujarat are believed to be growing at a higher pace than the national average and also expanding their business.
But the industry, which depends on the caliber of its employees for success, is desperate for skilled manpower. In fact, the industry is unable to expand and grow, mainly because of the shortage of skilled professionals. Experts of the industry in Gujarat estimate that IT and ITeS are in search of at least 12,000 skilled professionals.

The services and software industry in the IT sector in the state is believed to employ around 80,000 people and the employee strength of the industry is likely to rise by 15%. However, due to lack of skills in language and educational qualification, the industry is not able to get local manpower.

“It is true that IT industry wants to expand and is looking for skilled professionals but its efforts to find experts in the field have not yielded the needed results. Every year, a large numbers of IT engineers pass out from the colleges of Gujarat. But when we interview them, less than 10 percent meet our expectations. Hence, it is difficult to hire local students,” said Sunil Kakkad, president of Gujarat Electronics & Software Industries Association (GESIA) & CMD of Sai Infosystem (SIS).

The entire telecom industry in Gujarat does have some functional heads from the state, said Nirav Shah, former president of GESIA and MD & CEO, Jayatma Informatics.

“But the IT & ITeS industry of Gujarat is searching for second-level skilled engineers and mid-level managers with multitasking skills in IT and management. In Ahmedabad, it is estimated that the IT industry offers the maximum jobs compared to any other industry. However, at present, it is very difficult to narrow the gap between demand and supply of skilled IT manpower in Gujarat,” said Shah.

Shah further said that the IT & ITeS industry is looking for thousands of professionals in the next one year. “Aside from the requirement in the hardware sector, the services and software sector of the IT industry is expected to hire at least 12,000 people in the next one year. At present, the industry employs an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people. The maximum demand for skilled IT manpower comes from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Gandhinagar,” said Shah. There is a huge gap between the demand for skilled IT professionals and their supply from colleges, said Kakkad. Interestingly, professionals from IT cities such as Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad are unwilling to migrate to Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar. “Whatever be the reason, engineers are not willing to shift to Gujarat,” Kakkad said. Ahmedabad-based product design company, eInfochips, wants to hire 100 people almost every quarter.

“We grew at the rate of 40% in 2011-12 and similar growth is expected in 2012-13, provided we succeed in increasing our employee strength. In 2011-12, we added 100 people and in the first quarter of 2012-13 ended June 30, we hired 100 more. Because of the recruitment, I had to postpone my business trips abroad,” said CEO and founder of eInfochips, Pratul Shroff. The current employee strength of eInfochips is around 870. “We wish to add 100 professionals every quarter. In the current quarter ending September 30, we want to add at least 120 skilled professionals. However, this seems difficult now,” said Shroff.

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One of the biggest BPOs of Ahmedabad, Motif, is likely to become a 1,000-people company of the city, if the company succeeds in achieving its target of hiring 100 people. “We are continuously in the process of hiring and we are likely to achieve the target before the end of 2012,” said CEO and founder of Motif, Kaushal Mehta.

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