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Unemployment still to be a major challenge- 10-Feb-2010
Mumbai: The voice of the IT industry in India, National Associationof Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today said the single most challenge facing the sector's growth in the country was the growing unemployment concerns across the country and the increasing protectionism trends.
Speaking at the opening session of the 18th NASSCOM leadership summit here, NASSCOM Chairman Pramod Bhasin said despite the fact that 2009-10 was a defining year for the IT sector in India, the sector witnessed a 5.5 per cent growth, thanks to various concerted efforts of the IT companies in the country.
However, the situation continued to be grim as ''we are moving in an unchartered territoriy as the deep recession was continuing and a high level of unemployment was leading to various issues''. It is not known how long the recession would last, he added. However, he noted that the size and scale of attendance at the summit this year was heartening to note that the industry was live and kicking.
According to NASSCOM President Som Mittal as many as 1,650 delegates, including 350 from 22 countries, were attending the three-day meet, which was held amidst scenes of gloom and doomn last year. However, this year the scene was entirely different as the increased number of delegates were looking forward to the new path the sector would be charting for the future.
He was also in full praise over the remarkable manner in which Satyam Computers had resurfaced after the devastating fraud last year. The unprecedented response from the government as well as other agencies and the company was swift and well cooprdinated. They acted with such efficiency to ensure that the company was in safe hands and the company which had built a reputation handled the crisis well and retained the world class talent. It was an achievement for the country that such a scam tainted company rebounced strong. Had it been in any other country, it would have liquidated by now, he pointed.
He said hurdles continued for the sector as protectionism was showing its ugly face every now and then. ''Worries about unemployment is being witnesssed in most countries and represent the single largest challenge to growth prospects,'' he added.
Stating that ''unemployment will remain a large issue that we have to battle'', he said the industry need to tackle other issues such as non-tariff barriers and other barriers both outside and within the country. He said domestically the main issues were infrastaructrure and education. He, however, said the Indian IT sector was firmly on global map, creating jobs, driving growth and giving confidence for future growth. The opportunity was truly global and was within the reach of the country.
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