| Education Times | | | | industry ready. |
| It is certainly an exciting time to be in India. The country | | | | |
| is on a growth curve, logging in higher and higher GDP | | | | Industries such as the IT-BPO sector, which has |
| and making its presence felt in the global markets. | | | | emerged as a key driver of the Indian economy, is |
| Business intelligence firms, global consultants and | | | | likely to face a shortage of skilled manpower in the |
| analyst organisations aregung hoabout India's growth | | | | near future. There is a need, for instance, to expand |
| story and believe the country can sustain its existing | | | | the existing pool of relevantly skilled professionals and |
| momentum over the next few decades. | | | | convert the surplus"working age population" into a |
| | | | viable, ready-to-work manpower base. |
| A recent study by Goldman Sachs, titled "Dreaming | | | | The paucity of talent has hit segments such as |
| with BRICs: The Path to 2050," places Brazil, Russia, | | | | Banking, Finance and Insurance, Retail, and HR too. |
| India and China (identified as BRIC countries) among | | | | Manpower shortage is being felt particularly in the |
| the fastest growing economies over the next 50 | | | | middle-level management space. |
| years. | | | | |
| | | | | Executives take on to Learning to fill the gap |
| According to the Study, the Indian economy could be | | | | |
| larger than that of Japan by 2032 in terms of nominal | | | | Global training companies such as NIIT, have already |
| US dollar and the BRIC economies together could | | | | put in place initiatives that will help strengthen India's |
| exceed the G-6 countries (including the US, Japan, Italy, | | | | middle management layer over the next few years. |
| France, Germany and the UK) in size by 2039. If the | | | | NIIT Imperia, a path-breaking partnership with India's |
| predictions are accurate, India can very well emerge | | | | finest B-Schools-the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Calcutta and |
| as the third largest economy in the world in 2040 and | | | | Indore-marries the immense domain knowledge and |
| the largest economy in 2050. | | | | faculty base of the IIMs and NIIT's immense capabilities, |
| | | | | strengths and experience in delivering education with |
| India has the potential to grow the fastest among the | | | | predictable quality. |
| four BRIC countries over the next 30 to 50 | | | | |
| years-higher than five percent over the next 30 years | | | | This has turned out to be a step in the right direction |
| and close to five percent as late as 2050, Goldman | | | | helping address a massive market for executive |
| Sachs says. | | | | management training, which has traditionally remained |
| | | | | beyond the reach of thousands of Indian professionals. |
| India's manpower: Key resource | | | | Executives from the senior and mid-rungs of the |
| The reason for this is the fact that the fall in the | | | | corporate ladder that are either taking on, or readying |
| working age population will happen later for India and | | | | themselves to take on newer job responsibilities are |
| Brazil than for Russia and China. It is expected, for | | | | using this training to move up their career graph. |
| instance, that in 2010, India will have a high 53.9 percent | | | | |
| of its population in the age group of 15-59 years. | | | | No wonder then that NIIT Imperia's specialised |
| | | | | programmes in areas such as Retail Management, |
| By 2020, the tide will turn even more in India's favour. | | | | Financial Practices, Strategic Communications, besides |
| According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group | | | | other General and Senior Management programmes, |
| and All India Management Association, the developed | | | | have drawn a huge response from both IT and non-IT |
| countries will face a net workforce shortfall of 32-39 | | | | companies in the first six months itself. While almost |
| million by 2020. India, on the other hand, will have a | | | | one-third of Imperia students are from premier IT firms |
| surplus of people in the working age group by 2020. | | | | such as Infosys, Wipro, IBM, Delloite & Touche, |
| Clearly, this represents a huge opportunity for the | | | | Accenture, TCS, Cognizant, Dell, Ernst& Young, |
| country, where India can build a truly awesome global | | | | Boston Consulting Group, Yahoo and Oracle, |
| edge. | | | | professionals from the Financial, Manufacturing and the |
| | | | | Services sectors, from organisations such as Reliance |
| Coupled with significant economic performance, based | | | | Industries, Bharti Enterprises, Dr Reddy's Labs, HSBC, |
| on robust macro-economic policies, political stability and | | | | HCL, HDFC, ICICI Bank, L&T, State Bank of India, |
| improvements in the education system, India can | | | | Citigroup, American Express, Godrej, ITC, Motorola and |
| indeed fulfill the vision outlined by Goldman Sachs. | | | | Siemens, have also enrolled for the programmes. |
| | | | | |
| Indian industry: Facing the challenges | | | | Initiatives such these are going to play an important |
| | | | | role in enabling India to sustain its competitive |
| However, key challenges remain that can mar this | | | | advantage in the emerging Knowledge Age. By building |
| rosy picture-Talent generation and management. While | | | | 21stcentury professionals, across all levels of |
| the country is expected to have a surplus of people in | | | | management, India will have People power-a key |
| the working age group, the key concern is whether | | | | imperative for economic success in the decades |
| these impressive numbers will be employable and | | | | ahead. |