With an enormous, young workforce (the median age is 25) living in the largest democracy in the world, India is poised to become one of the global economy’s newest powerhouses. Since India opened its markets to foreign investment in the early 1990s, its economy has grown at an impressive average 8 percent annual rate, and the nation is now projected to become the world’s third-largest economy (behind China and the United States) within two or three decades, according to global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs and other economists.

Most of the nation’s job and economic growth has been generated by family-owned Indian enterprises and multinationals in industries such as information technology (IT), telecommunications, business process outsourcing (BPO) and pharmaceuticals.

Maintaining high growth rates is a high priority for these industries because they face increasingly stiff international competition, most notably from China. But sustaining growth may be difficult, due–ironically–to a lack of qualified people.

Despite the fact that India has a population of more than 1.5 billion people, and a workforce of 422 million, its literacy rate is a low 59.5 percent (compared with 99 percent in the United States). Further, only about 48 million people–less than 12 percent of the entire workforce–are college graduates. And those who do hold college degrees often don’t possess the skills needed by the nation’s surging industries.

The human capital challenges facing some of India’s hottest sectors are similar to the skills shortages that some employers in the United States face today–and that more may encounter in the future as vast numbers of baby boomers retire, legal immigrant labor grows scarcer and America’s educational system continues to struggle to produce qualified new workers. (For more on these factors, see the cover story in the March 2005 issue of HR Magazine.)

But while similar challenges face both nations, the stakes are higher in India. For many companies in highly competitive sectors, a lack of talented workers constitutes a “make-or-break” HR issue, which makes the value of good HR management readily apparent to top executives. The profession, as a result, is gaining both respect and attention–the kind that comes from being on the hot seat.

The results from HR are mixed, however, with some observers complaining of large-scale failures and others pointing out high-profile successes.

The HR Agenda

With the national economy growing rapidly and with growth in such industries as IT and business process outsourcing more than doubling, HR challenges are coming fast and furious.

“It’s like building an aircraft while you’re in the air,” says Marcel R. Parker, president of human resources at the Raymond Group of Companies in Mumbai, a leading Indian organization in textiles and retailing with 18,000 employees.

Faced with growth at record levels in some industries and skyrocketing attrition, HR professionals say they’re spending upward of 80 percent of their time on recruitment.

Compounding the problem is the fact that, for personal or family-related reasons, half of all the women they hire will opt out of the workforce by age 30, according to Anita Belani, Country Head for Watson Wyatt India in Mumbai. That’s a potentially significant problem since women make up about 20 percent of the workforce in urban areas, and far more in certain fields.

Most important, finding workers with the right skills is a problem. Even hot industries that can attract college graduates from the top-tier business schools are being forced by market conditions to inflate salaries and lower job expectations.

“People who normally would be viewed as entry-level workers and paid accordingly are commanding much higher salaries and responsibilities,” says Philip Felando, senior director of human resources at Skyworks Solutions Inc. in Irvine, Calif. Felando, who is responsible for 4,000 employees worldwide, including 300 engineers at a design center in Hyderabad, India, says: “You’re a hot commodity regardless of your ability to perform.”

School and College students has been enthusiastic, as information on scholarships offered by British universities.

During his 45 minutes of interaction, they were apprised on the qualifications required in British universities.

During our visit to the institutions of staff of British Council in collaboration with students and talked about possibilities, as the study in Great Britain and scholarships, qualifications and certificates United Kingdom to India, in conjunction with institutions of the United Kingdom and English training programs.

Employees were board and students wishing to study in Britain and also helped form links between the organizations of schools, colleges and universities in India and the United Kingdom.

Vibhuti Kacchap, a passionate student of Loreto Convent, said information from the British Council has been useful. ? I plan to ask for scholarships in one of the best universities in terms of my class X. You said that, if I need for clients of more than 80 per cent to qualify for the different types of scholarships for which we were provided brochures. ?

Tanya, a student of Class X of Loreto Convent interactions said that they constitute an advantage for students. ? We can plan, if we want to follow higher education in India or the United Kingdom, and can now better prepared when it comes to scholarships, I found 45 minutes worth. After face-to-face interaction really helped.?

Training Roadshow on the work in education. The marks of bus-Education UK visited Delhi Public School, Loreto Convent, Ranchi Women’s College and Xavier Institute of Social Services (XISS) in the capital on Friday.

Principal of Loreto Convent, Sister Goretti, said students receive general information on the educational system in the United Kingdom, which is very useful at this stage. The British Council and the British High Commission has initiated a scale, their former activity in the areas of cooperation between India and the United Kingdom.

Head of education in UK, the British Council, Marina Gandhi said:? During an interaction with the school and students, we found that they are interested in studying in British universities. We do not sell or promote, but rather with general information for students who are willing to study abroad. Likewise, we are also providing information on scholarships that are available in the Undergraduate and post-graduate diploma. There are more than 21000 scholarships offered by British universities? plus she added.

Director of XISS Benni Ekka, said Education Roadshow has helped to ensure that students wishing to pursue higher education. ? There are many students from XISS on the basis of camaraderie studying abroad. There is scope for students when they desire to go? , Did he added.

Manager curricula, the British Council Mrigank Mukherjee said that the reactions were positive.

Students were also gifts and brochures on the collection of information on British universities.

Up to the year 2010, India with a deficit of 5.00000 computer professionals, India is a serious threat to the leadership position of information technology and in the ITES sector. Based on a study by McKinsey Global Institute, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), so only about 25 percent of students, engineering degrees each year in the category of”“ Employability and technical assistance and the lack of balance “Soft skills”.

NASSCOM, the leading role in defining the necessary urgency to industry and academia tie-up opens the way for a sharp correction in the educational system for the industry.

Responding to the challenge, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has proposed to contribute to the achievement of engineering Finishing School for graduates on a pilot basis in the coming summer season (May-June), for 240 hours.

Eight institutions (IIT-Roorkee and seven NITs - Tiruchi, Surathkal, Warangal, Jaipur, Durgapur, Calicut and Kurushetra) are short, the list for the implementation of the programme as a pilot project for two years. This finish, schools, techniques and skills to the provision of infrastructure, for a period of 8 -10 weeks, it is expected that students employability of the workforce and bridge the supply and demand gap of at least 30 to 40 percent. The MHRD has promised to consider the long-term strategy of integrating the knowledge and skills needed in the regular curriculum, so that the absence of such a finish, schools need.

The government, policy and the support of educational institutions by reviewing terms of structure and content of all Engineering / Technology disciplines, the provision of adequate infrastructure, learning and control equipment, teacher training, the members of both information technology and non - - disciplines of information technology and cooperation with industry and business associations to the planning, implementation and funding.

Finishing School 2007

They are those who, among graduates of the nineties BE / B. Tech. Programs that have not yet reached the safeguarding of jobs in the campus placement so far. Students are selected on the basis of academic performance at the seventh semester. End tax attention on issues such as social backwardness, priority for rural women in the background.

The industry is invited to become familiar with this series captive by the students, who are specially trained for employment opportunities through an organized system of placement.

Finishing School addresses the following topics for technical development and Soft Skills: Advanced Applications of Mathematics, overview of the elements of information technology, information system concepts, software engineering and project management; Basics of Business , project evaluation, the costs and accounting; Soft Skills & Communication, Embedded Systems, and Industrial Process Control Systems, Image Processing & Geographic Information Systems, Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Information Security, Mobile Computing.

Skills are passed on to students of the Faculty and practitioners trained by NITs professionals in the industry of information technology and ITES. Students are regular feedback on their performance and a final review is to improve their chances of ridicule to employment in IT and ITES sector.

“Train-the-Trainer”

NIT - Tiruchi-5 organized a day “Train the trainer” program from March 12 to 16 for the 32 members of the faculty of IIT-Roorkee and seven NITs - Trichy, Surathkal, Warangal, Jaipur, Durgapur, Calicut & Kurushetra, De la division Management Studies, IIT Madras, Chennai. Des computer science majors - Tata Consultancy Services and Technology Solutions to his knowledge, - support necessary for the resource persons, material and study visits for development centres. program has been supported by the AICTE-supported project at the Institute of Industrial Cell Partnership, with NIT - Tiruchi.

At the conclusion of confrontation with the service of God, MS Ananth, director of IIT Madras, Chennai, sought greater involvement of industry in the development of the school.

The program has been used for the purpose of understanding the requirements - and technical expertise, analysis of the current state of knowledge and skills, the development and completion of the structure, content and finishing cash school, used pedagogy, evaluation and feedback as part of programming approaches and the development of common approach for the management of the operational aspects of the implementation of finishing School .