IT and BPO to remain hot. Around 2.8 lakh jobs in 2003-04.

Even though major multinationals like Dell and Lehmann Brothers are starting up to go against off shoring to India, It is not something to get worried about. For this industry is here to stay.

The sprawling 50-acre, training center of Infosys in Bangalore is overflowing beyond capacity. Over 1,000 young and fresh recruits are busy readying themselves to take on the software projects at the Bangalore center.

But this hiring at a breakneck speed is not just an Infosys phenomenon. The whole industry is in that, recruitment mood. That's because IT off shoring has hit big time in India. Both local and multinational IT firms are scaling up their operations here for IT services and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The industry estimates a phenomenal 2.8 lakh IT jobs in 2003-04 adding up to the already strong base of 6.5 lakh IT professionals in India.

Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, IBM global services India, Transworks, Vertex, Microsoft, Aviva, HSBC Bank, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, National Rail Inquiries of UK, Siemens and Bank of America etc are moving thousands of jobs to India. According to Boston Consulting Group vice-president and director K James Abraham, India has the potential to generate 30 million jobs on incremental basis in outsourcing business by 2020.

The tremendous impact of this booming job market is clearly visible. The high demand for skilled and literate manpower has increased the salary levels. According to the recent Nasscom-Hewitt study, the average salary in a BPO company rose by 15.4 per cent in 2003, and by 14.5 per cent in an IT company. The road ahead will see the industry mature overall.