PUNE: Ganesh Natarajan, the new chairman of Nasscom (National Association of Software & Services Companies), plans to push for the extension of the STPI scheme and promote talent from smaller cities to meet the IT sector’s burgeoning human resources requirement.
The deputy chairman and managing director of Pune-headquartered Zensar Technologies, Natarajan was appointed Nasscom chief for 2008-09 on Monday. Natarajan told DNA that extension of the STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) scheme, which expires in March 2009, was critical for IT companies in India.
“March 2009 is the sunset date as far as the Science and Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme for the IT sector in the country is concerned. This means an average tax subsidy of 6-7% on profits bringing down our income tax liability. We are requesting that the scheme be extended to 2014, which will be of great help, particularly to the small scale players in the IT sector,” Natarajan said.
He said competing with China had been tough because of the huge exemptions offered to the IT companies there. According to him, the demand for good IT and ITES professionals was high and not in keeping with the supply. “Annually, the industry needs one lakh people for which 10 lakh candidates need to be interviewed,” he said, explaining that Nasscom had requested the states and the central governments to attract talent in smaller cities.
“Most big cities have reached a saturation level and it was now logical to hire from smaller cities, and draw up a list of top 50 cities rather than the top three or four. The plan is to create talent by enhancing industry-academia cooperation,” he said, adding that talent creation was possible from smaller towns, like Ranjangaon, located 65 km from Pune. Innovation is another focus area for Natarajan. “Being part of the innovation forum, Nasscom will put its programmes for spotting innovators in top gear,” he said.
