New Delhi: India urgently faces a shortage of around two lakh IT and ITeS professionals. The shortage is bound to grow to 3.6 million in the next eight years.

According to a Nasscom-Mckinsey study, India needs at least 630,000 IT professionals in 2004, but it still lacks 175,000 in manpower. By 2006, there will be another 430,000 fresh demand to be met. It will increase to another 990,000 in 2009 and by 2012 it will reach 3.6 million.

And if Morgan Stanley estimates are to be believed, Indian offshoring industry is expected to increase by more than triple to 24 per cent from eight per cent currently.

Expressing concern over the dearth of getting qualified professionals according to the need of industry, those in the industry say as there exists a shortage in the supply of manpower, India has to urgently address the situation "by focussing more attention on the education system".

The IT training institutes are tuning themselves to the emerging scenario in BPO (business process outsourcing) sector, which is supposed to grow by at least 54 per cent, by introducing new programmes co-designed with the industry to meet their demands.

While NIIT and the IT wing of Zee Group have announced new programmes in ITeS-BPO training, the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala are devising new plans to train youth in the BPO sector.

"There is a shortage of qualified professionals. It's true. As an IT training institute we are working with industry to solve the problem," Dr Smarajit Dey, president of NIIT, says.

The training scenario is dramatically changing these days as the industry is more involved in developing the curriculum. They are interacting with the institutes on their needs. After identifying their manpower needs, now the industry informs the institutes they are aligned with about their specified needs and train people accordingly.

As the trend is emerging, the institutes are redefining their relationship with industries. Earlier, if the industry's participation in training sector was dismally low, the situation is changing fast. Leading employers are now excited that they have an opportunity to customise a part of the curriculum, as well as participate in the selection of the students.

Says Dey, "The industry is more active nowadays than earlier. They are specifying us about their needs and requirements. So we can supply them well-trained people."

"This kind of co-operation with the trainers and industry combines the generic IT skills with company-specific skills to create a pool of professionals who are both industry-ready and are productive immediately," Dey elaborates.

Economically, for the company, this means cost-effectiveness. Companies from now onwards don't need to worry about training a fresher to suit the company.

But if India is going to lag behind in creating professionals, industry sources feel that the country will suffer as it is a dependable source of forex.

Even the slump of 2001 didn't affect the Indian industry here as contemplated. Though the slowdown created apprehension in industry and training sector, it soon recovered its lost pace and displayed its inherent strength, they say.

But if India is complacent in training fresh professionals, India's contenders will grab the opportunity, Dey points out.