Supply of IT professionals is likely to outstrip demand by 48,000 in 2008 with the total number of professionals growing to touch 11.68 lakh on the projected demand of 11.20 lakh, Nasscom has said.Out of the total demand of 11.20 lakh, IT service exports sector is expected to have a demand of 4.6 lakh, the domestic IT sector 5.2 lakh, and products and technology services at 1.4 lakh by 2008, according to the break up of the total projected figure, Nasscom’s strategic review 2004.Against this, the IT professionals supply pool is likely to be 11.68 lakh with 5.68 lakh as current pool and six lakh as new supply, the review said.In 2002-03, the total fresh IT labour supply was 1,46,557 and it is estimated to be 1,49,593 in 2003-04, while the projections for 2004-05 are 1,53,233, and for 2005-06, it is likely to be 1,60,152.Though a large talent pool is available to the IT industry, some gaps remain in training, Nasscom said.The software industry requires people in software skills like programming, web development, coding, designing, and while the engineering talent pool is equipped with most of these skills, introducing a few software courses will enable them to function more efficiently in the IT industry, the report said. Students from other disciplines like science and arts require extensive training on software development and hence, introducing a few software-related courses in their curriculum is necessary to prepare them for the software industry, Nasscom said.The skill profile requirement for the sector is very different from that needed in the software industry, with people employed in the sector requiring linguistic skills and appropriate domain and functional experience, it said.
