In Hindu religion, Laxmi is the goddess of money and I think the goddess is now showering her blessing on the IT sector of India. In a salary survey conducted by the Kelly Services Limited, in India, it came out that the IT enabled services had the highest raise in salary. I am quoting from the news published in DNAIndia.com:
“India has reported the highest average salary increase at 13.9 per cent and employees in the IT-enabled services industry received the highest hike of 17.9 per cent, according to a Salary Guide brought out by Kelly Services India.”
According to Achal Khanna, Country General Manager, Kelly Services, it is not very surprising as more and more global companies are investing in India and India, on the other hand, kept providing skilled manpower at a competitive price.
Kelly Services, a fortune five hundred company, is one of the top employee providing companies in USA. Headquartered in Troy Michigan, the company specializes in “staffing services, staff leasing, outsourcing, and vendor on-site and full-time placement. Kelly has a global network of offices across Asia-Pacifc, Europe and America.” The company has a strong presence in India. Its corporate offices are situated in major Indian cities like- Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and New Delhi. The company collected its information based on 140 official positions ranging from entry-levels to senior positions. They published their survey results in the form of a guide titled Kelly Services' 2006 Salary Guide, which is the first of its kind in India. They collected data from various service industries including - banks, call centers, engineering and technical firms, finance, human resource, information technology, logistics and warehousing, office support and sales, marketing, and advertising. You can download the salary guide from this page- http://www.onrec.com/content2/news.asp?ID=12289.
Since Kelly is a famous company, it has also collected information from the human resource branch of the big companies. Below is given some of the major findings of the survey result:
- From recruiting and salary perspectives; IT firms, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical companies are occupying the top position. I was going through the salary guide and I found out that in Banks the minimum salary is Rs.8000, and the highest is Rs.50,000; but in IT firms, salary starts from Rs.12,000 and the highest is Rs.85000. Most of these companies are now in expanding phase hence, they are looking for fresh talents. The guide forecasted that by 2010 Indian IT firms will be able to 2.3 million jobs in the country and an extra 6.5 million (indirect jobs).
- The banking and finance sector also topped the hiring list and the guide forecasted that the trend will continue till the next 12 months because rich businessman and retail investment firms are creating huge demand for people with good knowledge and experience in handling huge assets.
- Call center is also another booming service industry that is looking for young, energetic, and smart people with good English skill.
- Other important sectors are: real estate, manufacturing, automotive and heavy engineering.
- Kelly’s country manager is very much hopeful about the survey. She said that the survey would become a good barometer for both the employees and employers to know about the prospects of the job industry.
This survey gives a clear picture how rapidly the Indian IT sector is moving ahead. The starting salary is very attractive compared to other jobs. Now IT firms are expanding so they need more workers. However, if the trend continues this way I am afraid in near future the IT industry will be more expensive and foreign countries will lose interest to outsource IT services to India. Naturally, they will have to seek other alternatives.
Now, let me come back to my original question: Is India becoming too expensive for outsourcing? Until now, it is not too expensive but there is doubt that Indian is becoming a bit expensive because of the rising salary in the tech field. However, compared to Europe and North America, Indian is still very cheap and will likely to remain so for many years to come. Actually, rising salary for Indian workers will create opportunities for countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh to attract foreign companies in terms of outsourcing.
If India wants to remain competitive then Indian government must invest on technology education and training on an emergency basis. The entrance of fresh skilled faces can only create a balance and would not let the salary hike go out of control.
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