the it sector: time to invest in india...india is the world’s leading outsourcing destination, and...

Issue 36 • October 2017

From Dezan Shira & Associates

The IT Sector: Time to Invest in India

www.india-briefing.com

Why India, Why Now?

India’s IT Ecosystem

P.04

P.07

P.13 Talent Procurement in the IT Sector

2

Introduction

ROHIT KAPURCountry Manager

Dezan Shira & Associates

India is the world’s leading outsourcing destination, and offers an advanced ecosystem for

foreign investors looking at the information technology (IT) sector.

However, the IT sector is undergoing a critical transition phase as it adapts to the disruptions

caused by automation and allied technologies popularly referred to as SMAC or social media,

mobility, data analytics, and cloud computing. This has altogether resulted in restructuring

efforts by the sector’s leading IT firms, leading to the layoff of competent, technically trained,

and experienced technology professionals.

This ‘crisis’ is only one of technological transition, and serves as a unique opportunity for

foreign investors seeking to establish their IT business abroad or secure an outsourcing base.

Technology professionals that have been laid off can participate in the country’s vibrant startup

scene, while others will be available for employment with new market entrants. Meanwhile,

the sector’s investment in new verticals, along with the upskilling of the domestic talent pool,

will only strengthen the world-class infrastructure and service capabilities currently in place.

In this edition of India Briefing Magazine, we make the case for why now is the right time

for foreign firms to invest in India’s IT sector. Firms can take advantage of the existing IT

infrastructure, new industrial verticals, proliferation of technological startups, and federal

incentives. Finally, we discuss India’s talent procurement advantages, with its labor pool of

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates.

This magazine is based on Dezan Shira & Associates’ experience managing corporate

establishment and IT processes for local and foreign companies in India. This issue of India

Briefing assesses India’s IT sector, and the benefits available to foreign companies seeking to

establish their IT services operations in the country.

With kind regards,

Rohit Kapur

www.dezshira.com

www.asiabriefing.com

www.aseanbriefing.com

www.indonesiabriefing.com

www.vietnam-briefing.com

CreditsPublisher / Chris Devonshire-EllisEditor / Melissa Cyrill, Vasundhara Rastogi, Bradley DunseithDesign / Jessica Huang and Kking Lu

Years1992-2017

ReferenceIndia Briefing and related titles are produced by Asia Briefing Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dezan Shira Group.

Content is provided by Dezan Shira & Associates. No liability may be accepted for any of the contents of this publication. Readers are strongly advised to seek professional advice when actively looking to implement suggestions made within this publication.

For queries regarding the content of this magazine, please contact: [email protected]

All materials and contents © 2017 Asia Briefing Ltd.

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3

Table of Contents

$

This Issue’s Topic

The IT Sector: Time to Invest in India

Online Resources on Emerging Asia

Growth of Digital Payments Systems in India

Delhi NCR – An Emerging IT Hub in India

An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017

Payroll Processing and Compliance in India

Knowledge Sharing Platform

An Introduction to e-Commerce in Malaysia

AI in China: How AI Can Optimize Your Operations

Vietnam’s Payment Preferences: Four Trends to Watch Outsourcing BPO

Services to The Philippines and India

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Legal, Tax, Accounting News

Cross Region Comparisons

Industry Studies

Magazines, Guides, Reports

Podcast & Webinar

Regulatory Framework & Updates

Professional Services

Strategic Advisory & Commentary

Why India, Why Now?P.04

India’s IT Ecosystem P.07

Talent Procurement in the IT SectorP.13

ASIA BRIEFING

This Month’s Cover Art from Art Konsult

Prasanta Kalita, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 47 x 83 [email protected] +91 11 6568 3083www.artkonsult.com

4

Why India, Why Now? By: Melissa Cyrill

The information technology (IT ) sector is

flourishing in India.

In 2015, India’s IT and business process management

(BPM) sector accounted for 56 percent of the world

market at US$143 billion. Within this sector, the

BPM segment alone accounted for 38 percent of

the global outsourcing market. Today, Indian IT

companies serve two-thirds of the world’s Fortune

500 companies – making it the largest private sector

employer in India.

By the end of 2017, the size of this sector will reach

US$155 billion. Yet, in the last two years, alarmist

predictions have dominated headlines, calling

doomsday on the sector’s growth and position in

the global economy.

This makes little sense.

The sector is undergoing a transitional phase, but

its competitive edge remains. The country offers

an advanced technology-focused infrastructure,

world-class outsourcing and software production

capabilities, as well as a skilled and comparatively

low-priced labor supply.

In fact, if anything, the IT-BPM industry in India

competes with itself – keeping pace with past growth

trends and future technology and business trends.

As it stands, India is a one-stop shop providing

IT services to businesses around the world. The

country is an excellent business delivery center

for IT services that includes Custom Application

Development and Training (CADT), IT consulting,

systems integration, application management,

infrastructure management services, software

testing, and web services, among others.

How India became the world’s outsourcing destinationDuring the early 1990’s, India began sweeping

economic reforms, opening the economy to foreign

investors and businesses. Indian businesses took

advantage of the new foreign investor interest, and

began marketing India as an outsourcing destination.

At the time, India had hundreds of thousands of

students graduating from engineering and science

programs. The very best were absorbed into the

emerging software industry – creating a tradition

of Indian talent directed towards software and

computer sciences.

Due to India’s history as a former British colony,

English is widely spoken and the dominant

language in higher education. The predominance

of the English language lends India an advantage

in IT over many other Asian nations: meetings,

customer service, and any reporting or inputting

can all be carried out in business English.

Issue 36 · October 2017 · IndIa BrIefIng

5

Furthermore, the past decades of IT growth in India

has created strong infrastructure to handle high

capacity 24/7/365 IT services, including Grade A

office buildings, reliable power supplies, and high

levels of internet bandwidth.

It is important to emphasize that India’s IT sector

came of age as the country enacted significant

economic reforms: early Indian outsourcing

companies fought for government regulations that

allowed the industry to flourish.

In addition, Indian states have sought to provide

the ideal ecosystem for IT employers ranging

from labor law relaxations and exemptions to

the establishment of special economic zones

or SEZs – in Bangalore (Karnataka), Gurgaon

(Haryana), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Mumbai

(Maharashtra), among others.

Neighboring countries often lack such a regulatory

landscape consciously crafted around the IT sector.

IT sector invests to innovateToday, the IT sector is in a period of transition

in India, adapting to the disruption caused by

emerging technologies such as automation,

cloud computing, data analytics, social media, and

machine intelligence.

Industry leaders in India’s IT sector, including Tata

Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro Technologies

are strategically investing in these technological

disruptions or what is commonly referred to as

“SMAC”, which stands for social media, mobility,

data analytics, and cloud computing. Researchers

in the industry estimate that by 2017, India’s IT

sector will spend approximately US$4.2 billion on

cloud services in India, US$1.8 billion of which will

be spent on software as a service.

In India, SMAC innovation is fronted by the country’s

technology startups. India is already the world’s

third largest base for tech startups – 4,750, including

e-commerce and hyper-locals. This number is

expected to rise to 11,500 by 2020.

Their research and development of new technologies

and applications that work on SMAC capabilities only

enhances the IT ecosystem in India. Further, these

developments run parallel to and often reinforce the

efforts by the tech industry’s stalwarts.

Finally, by collaborating and competing with, or

acquiring tech startups, India’s IT companies are

increasingly able to sharpen their efforts to develop

solutions that emphasize design, creativity, agility,

and customer experience as well as cater to new

niche service demands.

The analytics and big data industry in India is

currently estimated to be US$2.03 billion, growing

at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.8

percent whereas the public cloud services market

in India is estimated to be a US$1.8 billion market.

Their growth trajectory is bound to accelerate; in

fact, the International Data Corporation estimates

that India will generate up to US$225 billion in

SMAC-related revenue by 2020. This is because

SMAC capabilities will be used across all industries.

In the IT sector alone, the industry body NASSCOM

projects that SMAC could account for more than

20 percent of its revenues by 2020, from just five

percent in 2014.

Why should foreign SMEs be looking at India now?For foreign small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

looking for a cost-effective IT destination, now is

the right time to invest in India. The sector is in the

middle of an exciting flux as new technologies are

becoming mainstream, creating further demand to

match increased service competencies.

Once the Indian IT sector consolidates its business,

training, and infrastructure along SMAC lines, they

will be able to compete with global MNCs as full

IT service providers, rather than just maintenance

providers and back-end support providers. For

instance, NASSCOM reports that in 2017, the sector

showed a 10.5 percent growth focus on developing

high-end services.

IndIa BrIefIng · Issue 36 · October 2017

6

Refers to data analytics

Analytics

What are SMAC Technologies?

MobilityRefers to mobile phones

and digital devices

CloudRefers to cloud computing

and related services

Social Refers to social media

New niche segments have accelerated the

overall expansion of India’s IT sector capabilities,

developing embedded digital solutions and

emerging verticals serving industries as diverse

as healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing.

Across the Indian economy, organizations are now

spending up to 45 percent of their IT budgets

on activities that will grow their business. This

shift showcases the relentless research and

development (R&D) focus on optimizing traditional

IT infrastructure, developing high-skilled talent, and

innovating digital processes to make IT adaptive

and resilient.

This R&D disruption, however, has entailed

necessary and interim layoffs in the sector, as it

upgrades to the next development stage. Foreign

companies engaged in providing back-end

(outsourcing) services can effectively tap into excess

labor in the Indian market, at a competitive cost.

Meanwhile, the country’s IT ecosystem will continue

to develop, including the associated education and

training sectors, providing foreign entrants the upper

edge they need in the global market.

7

India’s IT EcosystemBy: Vasundhara Rastogi

India is a prominent destination for outsourcing

of information technology (IT ) services, which

account for approximately 67 percent of the global

outsourcing market.

The key appeal for foreign investors is India’s

established IT ecosystem of skilled professionals

with English language fluency, high-quality

infrastructure (connectivity, business centers,

and educational institutions), and supportive

government policies. These have cumulatively

positioned India as a global powerhouse in the

outsourcing of IT services.

Nevertheless, building upon this early legacy, India’s

IT sector has, over the years, evolved from being

merely an outsourcing destination to a value-added

destination, making cost-efficient technology for

global clients and opening new industry verticals in

the fields of system integration, consulting services,

and technology-enabled business services.

IT Sector: Industry Segments and Market Size

SOFTWARE PRODUCTS & ENGINEERING SERVICES

System softwareEnterprise applicationsVertical applicationsEmbedded systems

Horizontal-speci�cVertical-speci�c

BUSINESS PROCESSMANAGEMENT

Project-orientedoutsourcingsupport and training

IT SERVICES

Personal computers Network equipmentStorage and securityServersPrinters

HARDWARE

US$27 billion in the year 2016-17.

It had 19 percent share in Indian IT sector revenues in 2017.

US$28 billion in the FY 2016, estimated to reach US$54 billion by FY 2025.

BPM accounted for 19 percent share in Indian IT sector revenues in 2017.

US$75 billion in the FY 2016-17.

IT services constitute 52 percent share in India's IT sector revenues in 2017.

US$14 billion in the year 2016-17.

The segment has 9 percent share in Indian IT sector revenues in 2017.

Market size

Segments

Market size

Segments

Market size

Segments

Market size

Segments


8

Leading multinational Indian firms such as Tata

Consultancy Services, Infotech, Wipro, Cognizant,

and Infosys dominate India’s IT sector, but the

country also houses a large number of small and

medium size players that contribute to over 30

percent of the country’s IT exports.

While small (SME) service providers have their

own focused, niche IT segments, multinational

companies (MNCs) offer a wide range of services

in multiple verticals, including infrastructure

management and business support services.

These MNCs have a presence in over 60 countries,

and account for about 70 percent of India’s total IT

export revenue.

According to the industry body – National

Association of Software and Services Companies

(NASSCOM) – IT exports from India will exceed

US$330 billion by 2019-20. This accounts for nearly

14 percent of the projected world-wide spend

if India maintains its current share of the global

offshore IT market.

Advantage India

Vast number of skilled professionalsIndia has a strong mix of young and technically

trained professionals.

Government institutes such as the Indian

Institute of Technology (IIT), the Indian Institute

of Management (IIM), and the Indian School of

Business (ISB) are known to produce high quality

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

talent with diverse business skills.

These professionals not only offer wage arbitrage to

companies, but also enable the industry to address

growing domestic and global opportunities in

digital transformation, while maintaining high

productivity rates.

In the year 2016, over six million graduates were

estimated to have been added to India’s total labor

force, over half of whom have skill sets that are well

suited to the IT sector.

Investing in IT – Advantage India

English proficiency Competitive rates

Experience workinginternationally

Trained by multinational tech companies

Quality infrastructure and connectivity

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9

India’s Major Export Markets

Country Share of IT Services Exports (%)

USA 62

UK 17

Continental Europe

11

Asia Pacific 8

Rest of the world 2

IT Industry’s Domestic and International Market Share

Source: NASSCOM Note: FY refers to the Financial Year (April to March)

5024

FY 10 FY 11

5929

FY 12

6932

FY 13

7632

FY 14

8632

FY 17 (expected)

11738

Export Domestic

FY 15

98.548

FY 16

10835

Number of Graduates Added to India's Total Labor Force in a Year (In Millions)

8

6

4

2

FY 1

0

3.7

FY 1

1

4

FY 1

2

4.4

FY 1

3

4.7

FY 1

4

5.3

FY 1

5

5.8

FY 1

6

6

Note: FY refers to the Financial Year (April to March)

India’s IT Landscape

Category Number of firmsPercentage of total export revenue

Percentage of total employees*

Work focus

Large 11 47 – 50 % 35 – 38 %

• Fully integrated firms offering a complete range of services.

• Large scale operations and infrastructure.• Presence in over 60 countries.

Medium 120 – 150 32 – 35 % 28 – 30 %

• Mid-tier Indian and MNC firms offering services in multiple IT industry verticals.

• Global In-House Centers (GIC) operating in engineering services and software product development. GICs are offshore centers that perform designated functions for large organizations.

• Near shore and offshore presence in 30-35 countries.

Emerging 1,000 – 1,200 9 – 10 % 15 – 20 %

• Firms offering niche IT-BPM services.• Dedicated GICs offering niche services.• Expanding focus towards Fortune

500 and 1000 firms.

Small 15,000 9 – 10 % 15 – 18 %• Small firms focused on either services

or specific industry verticals.

Source – IBEF


10

Global quality standardsIndian IT vendors follow best practices and have

adopted several global quality certification

standards, including:

• The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) that

assesses the ability of companies’ processes to

implement a contracted software project;

• The International Standards Organization (ISO

9000) series that applies to quality assurance in

design, development, production, installation

and servicing of software;

• Total Quality Management (TQM);

• Six Sigma Quality certification; and,

• Customer Operations Performance Centre

(COPC) certification that confirms the ability to

deliver quality software development on time.

In fact, over 75 percent of the world’s CMM (level 5)

certified companies are Indian. India also has one of

the highest number of ISO-9000 certified software

companies in the world.

Low service, labor costsThe quality and cost of services are two key

differentiators that make India the most preferred

sourcing destination in the world.

India can help companies generate cost savings

between 40 and 60 percent, depending on the

type of services offered, in comparison to leading

software markets like the US. For instance, hiring

a software developer costs between US$50 to

US$150 an hour (depending on the tool being

developed) on average in the US, while they can be

hired for as low as US$15 to US$45 an hour in India.

This pricing flexibility is particularly important for

SMEs in the sector as they are able to operate more

efficiently on competitive budgets and gain larger

profit margins on final products.

Emergence of tier II and tier III citiesAs basic infrastructure improves across the country,

the geographical spread of IT companies in India

is expanding to cover lower tier cities, such as

Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa),

Chandigarh (Punjab), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu),

Jaipur (Rajasthan), Kochi (Kerala), Ludhiana (Punjab),

Mangalore (Karnataka), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Surat

(Gujarat), and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).

Lower labor costs, affordable real estate, and the

establishment of software technology parks (STPI)

and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in these cities

are attractive for IT companies. Lower tier cities

have given rise to a domestic hub and spoke model

wherein tier I cities are hubs with a network of tier

II and III spokes. The model allows organizations to

diversify their operations to tier II and III cities at low

costs while maintaining their high profile business

clientele in tier I metro cities.

Federal policies, fiscal incentives, and infrastructure developmentThe Indian government has adopted a framework of

policies that offer advantages to the IT outsourcing

industry. These include national policies, financial

incentives, and the development of infrastructure,

which complement the local state-level initiatives

targeting the IT sector.

Federal policies The Information Technology Act, 2000 recognizes

electronic contracts, bars cybercrime, and supports

e-filing of documents. In addition, India has strict

Intellectual Property Right (IPR) provisions that

foster and enhance innovation in the industry. It

enables companies to recognize their intellectual

properties, as well as respect others’ IP rights.

The government’s Digital India campaign is

injecting US$20 billion in investments to improve

internet infrastructure in the country, and facilitate

online payments systems and e-governance,

among other things. The Startup India campaign,

meanwhile, supports technology startups that are

critical to the growth and development of the IT

sector’s SMAC capabilities.


11

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Overview of IT Industrial Zones in India

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)

Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

Export Oriented Units (EOU)

Term 10 years 15 years -

Fiscal benefits

• 100% tax holiday on export profits.

• Exemption from excise duties and customs.

• 100% tax holiday on exports for first 5 years.

• Exemption from excise duties and customs.

• Exemption from excise duties and customs.• 100% FDI permissible.

Location and size restrictions

• No location constraints.• Limit of 23% STPI units

in tier II and III cities.

• Restricted to prescribed zones with a minimum area of 25 acres.

• EOU must be located close to port or rail/road and have access to raw material.

• If the unit is located within 25 kms of an urban area, it needs environment clearance.

Source: IBEF

Further, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax reform

establishes a single tax regime for all goods and

services in the country, replacing the previous

indirect tax regime that divided taxes into multiple

levies at the federal and state level.

Fiscal incentivesWhile software services are subject to a GST rate

of 18 percent, input tax credit (ITC) can be availed

on annual maintenance charges (AMCs) on costs

of maintaining servers and other hardware, among

other costs. Exports are zero-rated, which means that

input taxes paid on service exports will be refunded.

IT firms can take advantage of fiscal incentives

offered by the government to Export Oriented

Units (EOUs), STPIs, and SEZs (explained in the

table above). Further, the government has allowed

a reduction in the tax rate on royalty and fees from

technical services from 25 percent to 10 percent,

which will benefit this sector.

InfrastructureAside from establishing software technology parks,

the government’s State Wide Area Networks

(SWANs) scheme has established networks across

all 29 states and six union territories, with a minimum

bandwidth capacity of two Mbps, and at a total cost

of US$512.69 million (Rs 33.34 billion).


12

IT Centers in India

Emerging IT Hubs in India (Tier II cities) Emerging IT Hubs in India (Tier III cities) IT hubs Major IT companies

Chennai

Second largest IT destination and outsourcing hub of India.

Cyber Vale, Tidel Park, Olypia Tech Park, Perungudi, and SireseriTCS, COGNIZANT, Other important ITcompanies: Accenture and Wipro

Rajarghat and Salt Lake cityIBM, Cognizant, and Wipro

Kolkata

Delhi

Gurgaon, Noida, and Greater NoidaIBM, Genpact, Oracle, American Express, Convergys, and HP

The capital city of India

Hyderabad

Third largest IT base in India. HITEC City and GachibowliMicrosoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Infosys

Mumbai

The �nancial capital of IndiaAiroli and PowaiTCS, LnT infotech, i-Flex Siemens, and Accenture

Pune

Hinjewadi and KharadiCognizant, Converygys EXL, KPIT, and Msource.

Kanpur

Vijayawada

Pondicherry

MysoreSalem

RaipurSurat

Aurangabad

Ludhiana

GuwahatiJaipur

Vishakhapatnam

Vadodara

Coimbatore

Tiruchirappalli

Mangalore

Indore

Kochi

Nagpur

Lucknow

Ahmedabad

Thiruvananthapuram

Bangalore

Popularly known as the 'Silicon Valley of India', the city is a leading software exporter.Among top 20 cities in the Global Startup Ecosystem ranking.

White�eld, Electronic City, and Sarjapur.Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HP, Siemens, and Compaq.

13

Talent Procurement in India’s IT SectorBy: Bradley Dunseith

In the last year, top Indian IT-BPM businesses have

laid off over 56,000 employees. The vast majority

of these employees were not underperformers,

but rather casualties of internal restructuring due

to challenges from technological disruption and

stricter visa policies in countries like the US.

On April 19, 2017, US president Donald Trump

signed an executive order mandating that

federal agencies review the H-1B visa program.

An expected change is doubling the minimum

salary for H-1B visa holders to US$130,000 –

rendering mass hiring from India unprofitable.

Consequently, many Indian tech employees will

be returning home: bringing years of American

work experience with them.

These IT professionals have experience working

internationally, having benefited from in-

house training in multinational companies.

More importantly, experienced professionals

returning to India will likely be willing to work for

competitive rates. Developments such as these

only strengthen an already competitive talent

pool for IT employers in India.

India’s labor force is capable of maintaining the

IT sector’s global competitiveness. But what do

foreign IT employers need to understand about

the labor pool before investing?

The state of IT talent in IndiaIndia produces huge numbers of engineering

and science graduates. While Indian colleges and

universities range dramatically in terms of quality

of education, selecting graduates from the top

15 percent of schools still translates into tens of

thousands of promising candidates.

Moreover, the leading IT employers provide their

employees with in-house training – spending

collectively over US$1.6 billion every year to ensure

their employees are up to world-class standards.

Foreign businesses who outsource IT services

to India can hire employees with international

experience working at domestic rates.

Despite the recent media spotlight on restructuring

and layoffs, the IT sector remains one of the fastest

growing sectors in India. The sector currently

employs 3.7 million people, and has a market size of

about US$155 billion in the financial year (FY) 2017

– showing a growth of eight percent year-on-year.

Foreign firms readily find employees with solid

technical training, international project experience,

and English proficiency – all at competitive rates.

Yet, India’s IT sector is not invulnerable to the global

shifts in technology and communications, such as

the challenge posed by automation and SMAC.

Leading players in the IT industry understand the

disruptive effect automation will have on their

sector, and are thinking proactively.


14

The up-skilling of India’s IT labor poolThe rise of automation will disrupt and reinvent

traditional back-end services. But India is solidifying

its position as the world’s most popular outsourcing

destination by equipping its workforce with the

capacity to handle these new service needs.

Many Indian companies are currently training

their employees in digital skills such as cloud

computing, machine learning, and data analytics.

They are reimagining their industry to be the world’s

destination for digital solutions. Meanwhile, India’s

IT talent pool is also keen to up-skill, keeping pace

with the changes in the industry. As automation

becomes a global reality, having an Indian team

developing new skills for the digital age prepares

foreign companies – proactively – for new demands

in an increasingly digitized working environment.

For employers engaged in traditional IT segments,

however, there are more practical considerations.

Layoffs by major IT companies transitioning towards

newer technologies influence the salary threshold

for non-specialized talent in the sector, allowing

employers seeking talent with basic qualifications

to hire at lower rates than before.

Procuring IT talent from India, is therefore, not only

good business sense for the present – it can also

help foreign businesses prepare for the effects of

emerging disruptive technologies. Overall, as the

IT sector reinvents itself, foreign businesses should

recognize the connected benefits of this

transformation.

Talent acquisition in Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Bangalore

In terms of talent, Gurgaon, a satellite city

of capital Delhi, and Bangalore present the

most dynamic environments for recruiting

IT talent in India. Mumbai is somewhere

between Gurgaon and Bangalore: there is a

large pool of IT professionals, but labor costs

and competition is high.

Bangalore has a much larger pool of IT

talent than Gurgaon and the surrounding

National Capital Region (NCR). Bangalore also

presents a more competitive labor market

for IT employers, particularly those with low

brand or name recognition. Gurgaon, on

the other hand, is a viable alternative for IT

employers that need IT talent, but do not

have the resources to compete with much

larger multinational IT employers.

Hourly Rates for Basic IT-BPO Services (US$)

2.5 – 6

5 – 9

8 – 14

8 – 18

12 – 25

Vietnam

IndiaLatin America

Eastern Europe

Philippines


15

MumbaiGurgaon Bangalore

India’s IT Talent Pool: A Tri-City Comparison

876,824 people live in Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi within the NCR, which itself is home to over 21 million people. Gurgaon along with Delhi and Noida is the largest urban agglomera-tion in India.

Gurgaon’s proximity to Delhi ensures that IT companies are able to source resources from a number of national industry groups.

The 12.47 million people in Mumbai make the city the largest in India; however, the wider Mumbai metropolitan area has a population of 18.5 million people, making it the second largest urban area in India by population.

Mumbai is the commercial, �nancial, and entertainment capital of India.

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka state, and the third largest city in India with 8,425,970 people.

Bangalore is known as the “Silicon Valley” of India and is one of the most prominent IT hubs across the globe.

Delhi hosts at least 18 engineering colleges that produce IT-capable graduates, while Gurgaon hosts 12 engineering colleges, Noida hosts 20 engineering colleges, and Faridabad hosts nine.

Over 30,500 total annual NCR area IT graduates, according to a report released by an industry body in 2014.

An estimated 45 to 50 percent of the IT graduate pool seeks employment outside of the NCR.

Mumbai hosts approximately 40 to 50 universities that produce IT graduates, while Maharashtra state hosts at least 155 (All India Council for Technical Education) AICTE accredited engineering universities

Over 45,000 total annual Mumbai area IT graduates, according to a report released by an industry body in 2014.

An estimated 60 to 65 percent of the IT graduate pool seeks employment in Mumbai’s IT industry.

Bangalore hosts approximately 75 to 90 engineering universities that produce IT graduates. Karnataka hosts at least 118 AICTE accredited engineering universities that produce IT graduates, and at least 134 MCA (Ministry of Corporate A�airs) accredited engineering universities that produce IT graduates.

Over 35,000 total annual Bangalore area IT graduates, according to a report released by an industry body in 2014.

An estimated 75 to 85 percent of the IT graduate pool seeks employment in Bangalore’s IT industry.

The prominent manufacturing and service industries, as well as the vibrant public sector, including academia, develop talent that IT �rms may source.

Gurgaon and the NCR attract a high number of IT professionals and students due to its reputation as a regional and global IT-Business Processing Management (IT-BPM) destination.

IT employers are able to source talent across the wider NCR, including Delhi, Faridabad, Noida, and Ghaziabad.

The �nancial, manufacturing, and engineering industries in Mumbai diversify the IT workforce and employ other professionals with IT skills and awareness.

Mumbai’s reputation as the commer-cial, �nancial, and entertainment capital of India inspires a high number of professionals to relocate to the city.

IT employers in Mumbai are able to source talent across the wider region, including Navi Mumbai and Thane.

The BPM, telecommunications, banking, electronics, and retail industries in Bangalore diversify the IT workforce and employ other professionals with IT skills and awareness.

Bangalore’s prominent reputation as an IT hub inspires a high number of professionals to relocate to the city from other areas in India and abroad.

The strength of the local IT industry has produced a globally competitive IT ecosystem for employers.

IT graduates

Other talent sources

Regional reputation

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