Nasscom to groom women’s leadership
Says the IT industry will grow at 14 per cent in the next decade
In an effort to empower women leadership and enhance entrepreneurial capability in IT industry, Nasscom organised ‘Diversity and Inclusivity Summit 2009’ in Bangalore on Tuesday .
The theme was “Diversity & Inclusivity Actions — Winning in a Transforming Economy” and examines diversity and inclusivity in the context of India and its socio-cultural and economic pluralities. Nasscom also announced the winners of gender inclusivity awards to honour companies in the IT-BPO industry which have implemented practices that promote gender empowerment and women leadership development.
IBM Daksh Business Process Services Pvt Ltd won the award in BPO category, HyTech Professionals India Ltd for best emerging company, Integra Software Services for best company with less than thousand employees, IBM India Pvt Ltd for best childcare services
High standards
Briefing reporters, Nasscom President Som Mittal said “Indian IT-BPO industry has set high standards in inclusivity and is among first to recognise the business imperative for diversity and inclusion.
Recognising the global leverage of our “demographic dividend” and that women are vital part of our workforce, the industry is working towards developing a diverse and inclusive workforce for the world.” Stating that there is no plan of revising the guidelines for software export in the fiscal year 2009-2010, he said the “industry is showing growth and the market in India is recovering, however, we are not planning to revise estimate of 4 per cent to 7 per cent rise in export revenue. The industry expects a 14 per cent CAGR in the coming decade.”
Quizzed about usage of H1-B visas, he said Nasscom is working with US government for issuing visa and that it has proposed new scheme of offering service visas to replace H1-B visas. “The service visa will enable companies to send their employees to the US on work for a certain period and will not lead to immigration or permanent residency.”
Nasscom also launched WEConnect India, an affiliate of WEConnect International.The goal is to create competitive advantages and foster sustainable economic growth for women owned businesses. WEConnect India will certify businesses that are at least 51 per cent owned, managed and controlled by one or more women.
