IT boom is boon to towns, says study

The year 2005 saw the exp-ansion of IT-ITeS companies in newer locations, especially Tier II cities and the nature of work grew to deliver high end services in the value chain, according to a report by Nasscom, an IT industry lobby, and Hewitt Associates, a human services firm.

The report — the Nasscom-Hewitt Total Rewards Study 2005 — says that with the burgeoning growth of the IT and ITeS industry, the year saw players in the industry sign multi-million dollar deals and offshoring of greater portions of work to India by foreign companies.

The growth saw companies expand operations in newer towns and cities and the nature of work gravitated to higher end of the val-ue chain. "Pressures on talent and profitability increa-sed in 2005 and companies looked at ways to establish competitive advantage. Or-ganisations created progre-ssive practices to support continuous development of its employees," it says.

"The Indian IT-ITeS ind-ustry continues to chart re-markable growth with an expected growth of 28 per cent by exceeding $36 bill-ion in annual revenues in 2005-06. It is also maturing and moving towards a higher degree of specialisation," said Sunil Mehta, vice-president, Nasscom.