Employment scope in IT sector in the state

SHILLONG, AUG 15: The Information Technology (IT) sector has increased its contribution to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 1.2% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2012. According to National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the sector aggregated revenues of US$147 billion in 2015, where export revenue stood at US$99 billion and domestic at US$48 billion, growing by over 13%.

The IT sector has contributed immensely towards employment generation. It generates about 2.5 million direct employments and indirectly employs 8.9 million people. India remains the leading global outsourcing destination for global sourcing, with an increase of India’s share by more than 1.2 times, from 45% in 2009 to 55% in 2014.

Several fields like Manufacturing, Finance, Marketing, Entertainment, Education, Mass Media, Environment, Communication, are reaping the benefits of the IT revolution. And India is regarded for its skilled IT Professionals who have made significant impact and contributions to the world in IT. That professionals like Satya Nadela – CEO of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai – CEO designate of Google have reached the pinnacle in their respective organizations just goes to prove the impact that Indians have made in the field of IT.

The state of Meghalaya has also produced thousands of IT & ITeS professionals who are working in various IT organizations in India and abroad. Employment in the IT Sector within the state of Meghalaya has, however, yet to pick up steam for various reasons. We do have private initiatives in the state, like M/S S.S. NetCom Pvt Ltd and Chillibreeze who have been providing services to their clients and employment to hundreds of local youth through their facilities in Shillong. SS Netcom had concentrated earlier on the Domestic Telecom Cellular Business Process Outsourcing but profit margins appear to have come down due to stiff competition. The company has, therefore, moved out from BPO operations to renting their approximately 200 seat facilities to other BPO operators from Gujarat and elsewhere. SS NetCom finds that this model is more viable for them and the ITeS professionals are in turn getting better paid as these BPOs are handling outsourcing business of clients from abroad with better margins.

On the other hand, Chillibreeze is employing about 50-60 professionals who mainly cater to outsourcing business of an American client. Some of the work could be as simple as preparing power point presentations for clients during the regular 9AM to 5PM shift and then handing over the finished job during the evening time in India which is morning time for their clients in America.

There are other firms in Meghalaya who develop software applications for clients outside the state and employ local programmers from the state to get the job done. Yet some other took other initiatives in data collection, data digitization and outsourcing of Data Entry Operation.

The efforts of these and other private initiatives are indeed commendable for creating business opportunities for themselves and generating employment for the youth of Meghalaya. However, the number of private companies and the scale of operations need to be ramped up significantly if we are to provide employment to thousands of IT & ITeS professionals within the state.  This is where institutional intervention is required by building human capital & infrastructure within the state and thereafter in aggressively marketing the two to domestic and international clients and investors.

For Capacity Building, the state government has been sponsoring IT courses for the youth since 2008 through Training partners like Arena, NIIT and Symantec. The state is also subsidizing CISCO certification courses at St. Anthony’s College and Microsoft Certifications at Ramakrishna Mission Centre, Shillong. These have played an important role in gradually building a resource pool for the existing and prospective IT firms in the state.  This model has successfully equipped the local youth in the state, which had undergone these trainings, with the requisite skills needed by the IT & ITeS industry. The State government also keeps a tab on the emerging industry needs, and tailors the course modules accordingly based on industry feedback and inputs from training partners.

For Infrastructure Building, the State government’s Technology Park initiative at New Shillong Township, is set to be another major intervention and milestone in providing a quantum leap in employment generation by building IT & ITeS Centres with about 10,000 seats. The Tech Park will also have Incubation Centres to nurture budding entrepreneurs and Centres of Innovations to bring the R&D conducted by research centers close to the needs of industry. It is also vital for the Technology Park to host Skill Development Centres that cater to the needs and requirements of the firms operating out of the Tech-Park and the major industries functioning in Shillong and Meghalaya.

The ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme of the Government of India is set to create huge demands for jobs to youth with relevant skills. The ‘Make in India’ initiative aims to converge and integrate it with ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ in order to build engines of growth for the economy. It envisions creating more employment by promoting skill development and entrepreneurship across various sectors.

With the active interventions of the State government of Meghalaya, and blended with the Digital India programme, the employment opportunities in IT sector in the state is bound to grow in the coming years. The upcoming Technology Park envisioned by the state government will be an important milestone towards this endeavor. Further, the collaborative and participative approach taken by the state with the industry associations and academia in IT and related aspects, will reap further rich dividends for scope and growth of employment in IT sector in Meghalaya. As Victor Hugo said, “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come”, and Meghalaya is set to prove it right once again:-  By DP Wahlang, Commissioner  & Secretary IT department and E Lyngwa, PC, SeMT