The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : IT industry attrition rate cause for concern: Lakshmi Narayanan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 10, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

IT industry attrition rate cause for concern: Lakshmi Narayanan

Special Correspondent

Left unaddressed now, "it will pose a serious challenge"

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

KEY MEET: Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy with U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice-president Dan Christman (right), past-president of CII V. Srinivasan (second from right) and U.S. Consul-General David Hopper, at the Indo-U.S. Business Summit in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: An IT industry leader on Friday warned that the rate of employee attrition, if left unaddressed now, would pose a serious challenge to the Indian industry by the turn of the decade.

With demand set to mushroom, the focus needed to be on greater investment to enhance supply, which at present was limited, said Cognizant Technology Solutions vice-chairman N. Lakshmi Narayanan.

The investments, he told the Indo-US Economic Summit here, were needed to reorient the education system, to improve various aspects of training and development, and reduce the number of school dropouts.

Responding to a query at the summit, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and the US-India Business Council, he said measures at the primary education level and to improve the quality of education were needed and industry should be involved in the process.

Underlining the significance of scaling up skill training schools, he said attrition was not unique to the IT industry. It, however, felt the pressure most because of the rapid growth rate.

The attrition rate was not alarming now, Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan said, pointing out that the trend was one of employees switching over to another IT company and not exiting the industry.

Apollo Hospitals managing director Preetha Reddy said the healthcare industry also faced attrition in the support staff category and there was need to set up more training institutions.

Addressing the inaugural session, Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy said Tamil Nadu was the preferred destination for investors and leading companies had established their projects in recent times. The industrial investment in the State in the last nine months was expected to generate 11,250 direct and 85,000 indirect employment opportunities. Senior vice-president, international affairs, of the US Chamber of Commerce Dan Christman said Tamil Nadu had the capabilities that investors looked for. With its air and seaports, the State was the gateway to penetrate the large market in Southeast Asia.

U.S. Consul General David Hopper said the delegation from U.S.-India Business Council met the Chief Secretary and other State Government representatives on Thursday. Business delegations from the U.S. were set to visit India, including one from California led by its Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Industries Secretary Shaktikanta Das and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation chairman and managing director S. Ramasundaram highlighted the advantages of investing in Tamil Nadu. Past president of CII V. Srinivasan said though the Indo-U.S. trade was at a record level, it was nowhere near where the potential.

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