IT sector seeks infra support on expanding to smaller cities

Mumbai: The $227-billion domestic information technology industry on Tuesday sought uninterrupted power supply and broadband connectivity from the government to expand into smaller cities of the country.

Along with the infrastructure support, the presence of people with sufficient skill sets, a world-class place of work learning for the kids, and sufficient job opportunities are also necessary for smaller cities so that people do not have to migrate to tier-1 cities, key executives of lobby grouping Nasscom said.

The government wants the IT sector to grow deeper into smaller towns for broad-based economic growth, while the sector facing issues with attrition has also been looking at it as one of the ways to retain manpower, which is apprehensive about migrating to bigger centres like Bengaluru or Hyderabad.

"When I talk about infrastructure, it is not just broadband, but things like power connectivity, electricity, etc. There are quite a few things that have to be addressed. And, we are talking to the government," Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh told reporters. She said hiring in tier-II and tier-III is becoming a part of our growth strategy and is a key imperative for the growth of the industry, which aspires to take the overall revenues to USD 350 billion by 2026. Without elaborating details, Ghosh said a pilot project will be launched between the government and Nasscom across a few cities for the same.

"We also need to invest in skilling in tier-II, tier-III cities and that is something Nasscom and companies are doing by working with the engineering colleges and others in these cities to grow the pipeline," she added. Pravin Rao, immediate past chairman of the body, said it is also important to create world-class educational institutions and healthcare facilities because, today, a lot of migration happens to tier-I cities as people are looking for good-quality education and job opportunities for spouses.