Attrition rate low in State's IT industry

The low attrition rate in the State's information-technology (IT) industry is a key attraction for companies.

Dinesh P. Thampi, delivery-centre head of Tata Consultancy Services, Kochi, says this advantage can help Kerala position itself as an IT destination. At less than 5 per cent, the attrition rate is much lower than the national average.

(Industry captains single out attrition as a major bane of IT and related industries in the country. Youths, who make up a good share of the workforce, tend to change jobs and companies often.)

Mr. Thampi was presenting a paper on global IT trends at a talk convened here on Tuesday by the Kochi chapters of the Computer Society of India and the Indian Society for Training and Development.

Enlisting the advantages of Kerala in IT, he said the State was the first to set up an IT park, Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, and implement a regulatory framework for the IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) industry. Airports, roads and railways provide good accessibility, an important factor for IT promotion.

He said Kochi was strategically located, as it hosted Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.'s primary international gateway in India and, therefore, accounted for 75 per cent of the country's traffic. The city was one of the top two preferred ITES destinations in the country.

The operational cost in Kerala was much lower than that in other Indian cities, with rentals and power and water tariffs among the lowest, he said.

Kerala enjoyed an edge in data communication and telecommunication infrastructure, with 100 per cent digital telephone exchanges, increased optical fibre cable connectivity, high telephone density of 10.58 per 100, double the national average, and twin submarine cable landings: South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3 (SEA ME WE-3) and South Africa-Far East (SAFE).

Kerala had the added advantage of being the most literate State, offering an abundant talent pool with the right skill sets that was easier to train.

A conducive business environment was created through initiatives such as IT Mission and special economic zones, adoption of special purpose vehicle models and so on. Domestic IT and business-process outsourcing market in the State was in the upswing, with the introduction of dynamic e-governance programmes such as Kudumbasree, Akshaya and FRIENDS.