Chandigarh named ‘challenger’ location in A.T. Kearney-Nasscom study

By IANS,

Chandigarh : Chandigarh is a ‘challenger’ location for the information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, a recent study says.


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The study titled ‘Location roadmap for IT-BPO growth: Assessment of 50 leading cities’ has been jointly conducted by the global consultancy major A.T. Kearney and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), an Indian IT industry lobby.

The study is a first-of-its-kind report on the assessment of 50 locations in India suitable for the IT-BPO industry. It provides a comprehensive analysis along with advantages and shortcomings of these 50 locations.

“The business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in Chandigarh is booming as here we have a plethora of young graduates with good communication skills and this industry is expected to grow by 20-25 per cent in the next 2 years,” Mohit Rana, principal consultant, A.T. Kearney, told IANS.

Rana has studied this region very closely while researching the report.

The Indian BPO industry is growing and rapidly spreading, both in terms of business and geographical boundaries.

In fiscal 2007-08, the industry employed more than 700,000 professionals and generated revenues of $11 billion (Rs.461.8 billion), a Nasscom official said.

The Nasscom-A.T.Kearney report also says that the BPO sector has the potential to grow 5-fold in the next 5 years.

The report has also identified 50 potential cities that can become the next IT-BPO destinations in the country.

“The BPO sector in Chandigarh is flourishing but we still have to wait for another 2-3 years to gain momentum in the core IT business as most of the engineering colleges here are not producing quality talent. Students of the National Capital Region (NCR) are still the foremost choice of IT companies,” Rana said.

There is a proposal to build an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Ropar town, but that too will take another two years to come up and the first batch will pass out after six years from now, Rana said.

“There is a space constraint in the city as we are not left with any more space to expand and there is lack of easy connectivity with the NCR region,” Rana said.

Chandigarh should try to overcome such hurdles at the earliest to attract substantial share of core IT business, he said.

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