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Job scene optimistic for India's tech workers

Faced with a sluggish US economy, nervous tech workers in India can draw hope from an emerging trend of US tech firms shifting jobs to India in an attempt to cut costs.

Several global firms now plan to cash in on this "low cost-high quality" workforce by setting up or expanding existing operations in the country even as they announce lay offs in the United States, where Indians went in droves as guest workers.

The most recent announcement came from US-based software services firm Versata Inc, which on Wednesday said it planned to open a development centre in India while cutting 15 per cent of jobs in the US.

"For cost-effectiveness, some companies may outsource tech requirements from India," N Muralidharan, managing director of Jobstreet.com's India unit, told Reuters.

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, which will launch an Asian version of its technology incubator in India this month, plans to invest up to $1 billion in the country over 10 years.

Computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co plans to set up three research labs and treble its workforce to about 5,000 over the next few years.

Data management software maker Veritas Software, is doubling staff to more than 600 at its R&D centre in Pune, its largest in the world.

This trend is not restricted to tech firms.

General Electric according to media reports, plans to increase its Indian staff strength to 20,000 by 2003 from 7,500, while Ford Motor Company, the world's second-largest automaker, recently opened a software development hub to accommodate 800 engineers in Madras.

While headhunters are optimistic plans by firms with existing operations in India could turn into jobs, the trend of newcomers is less certain.

"People suddenly moving base to India...will not happen immediately. Making that kind of decision will take several months to fructify," Jobstreet.com's Muralidharan said.

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In addition, US firms could create 900,000 new tech jobs in the United States during the current financial year starting April, a recent survey by trade body, the Information Technology Association of America, said.

And almost half the jobs might go unfilled because not enough applicants have the necessary skills, said the ITAA, which surveyed 191 IT companies and 494 non-IT companies.

The tech sector has announced more than 100,000 job cuts in the United States this year, according to international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Several Indian tech professionals who went to the US as "guest workers" fell victim to layoffs by technology firms but the prospects for skilled IT professionals was still good, industry sources said.

"Most of the lay-offs are likely to have been of low skilled workers like those who went for Y2K jobs and stayed on," said Ravi Dighe, vice-president of Indian computer education firm Aptech.

"Despite the experience of individual companies, the U.S. requirement for a steady supply of new IT workers continues," the ITAA said.

"Companies appear ready to rein in hiring plans. Not freeze hiring."

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