NASSCOM's Competence Test begins

 NEW DELHI: NASSCOM today announced the national rollout of NAC - the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) with the government of Rajasthan, making the state the first one to roll out NAC. The test will be held in the cities of Jaipur and Ajmer on November 18th 2006.

NASSCOM and Hewitt, with active participation of ITES-BPO industry players, designed NAC, a national assessment and certification program, which is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent by transforming the "trainable" workforce into an "employable workforce”.

The Indian ITES-BPO industry has been on a high–growth path and has clocked export revenues of USD 6.3 billion in FY2005-06. According to the NASSCOM-McKinsey Report 2005, India could face a shortage of skilled workforce in the next decade, particular in ITES-BPO industry, unless corrective measures are put in place urgently. Currently, only about 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of general college graduates are suitable for employment in the offshore IT and BPO industries, respectively. As countries from around the world enter the offshore market, it is necessary that India must improve the quality and skills of its workforce.

NAC aims to provide insights into the real training and development needs of talent and hence help companies, Governments and Universities develop customized talent development initiatives and programs. At the same time, it will help to tap new talent pools in comparatively remote parts of the country, through a common assessment accessible easily to all.

Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM said “In line with our ongoing efforts to strengthen India’s IT-BPO workforce, NASSCOM initiated the NAC certification, in addition to the IT Workforce Development initiative. The national rollout being announced today comes after a successful pilot completed in August 2005, through which 6000 candidates were tested.”

“We are expecting about 2000 candidates across various colleges to take the test in Rajasthan, in the first instance. We are hopeful that this initiative will be a major means of bridging the short distance which, today, stands between Indian graduates and the industry’s requirements, through the world class testing, certification and skill-set identifying methodologies being used for NAC” he added.

©CyberMedia News