Russia, Inc.
If the statistics are to be believed, Russia is taking plenty of IT graduate share from India; a shift of power in the battle for advanced skills.
Nov 11, 2006
Global IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) is largely a numbers game, with India having led the race so far because of its vast numbers of tech-ready college graduates. But, if figures cited by Russian IT services specialist Auriga are to be believed, the era of Indian superiority based on numbers alone could be drawing to a close.
Auriga consulted ROSSTAT, the federal statistics service of Russia, to present the following numbers:
Russian IT Engineering Graduates 2005-2006: 61,869.
Meanwhile, according to numbers provided by Indian IT/BPO industry umbrella group Nasscom, here is the corresponding number of Indian graduates.
Indian IT Engineering Graduates 2005-2006: 133,000.
In this particular regard, Russia has fully 45 percent of Indian's IT graduate workforce. What's more, Russia's advanced IT graduate pool is growing about 2 percent faster than that of India, so, ceteris paribus, the gap should keep closing.
These numbers leave out the category of IT engineering diploma, which in India is a three-year course. If you add in that category, India has another 113,000 graduates. However, these graduates should not be counted in the same category as those who have put in an extra year to get the actual degree. And, if you extend the comparison further, it is fair to note that Russian IT engineering programs last five years, not four. So, if you add up the total study years of Russian and Indian IT engineering graduates, Russia actually has 58 percent of India's capacity.
As it turns out, however, IT engineering degrees are not the sum total of the global IT/BPO industry, which feeds mainly on warm English-speaking bodies of random competence levels. Russian IT/BPO companies like Auriga have never challenged that dynamic; instead, they have argued for a division of labor in which the heavy IT, engineering, and science lifting goes to Russia while lower-margin BPO, IT maintenance, and other low-level work stays in India.
If the trend on which Auriga has put its finger proves to be sustainable, Russia, Inc. will soon be challenging India, Inc.
Auriga consulted ROSSTAT, the federal statistics service of Russia, to present the following numbers:
Russian IT Engineering Graduates 2005-2006: 61,869.
Meanwhile, according to numbers provided by Indian IT/BPO industry umbrella group Nasscom, here is the corresponding number of Indian graduates.
Indian IT Engineering Graduates 2005-2006: 133,000.
In this particular regard, Russia has fully 45 percent of Indian's IT graduate workforce. What's more, Russia's advanced IT graduate pool is growing about 2 percent faster than that of India, so, ceteris paribus, the gap should keep closing.
These numbers leave out the category of IT engineering diploma, which in India is a three-year course. If you add in that category, India has another 113,000 graduates. However, these graduates should not be counted in the same category as those who have put in an extra year to get the actual degree. And, if you extend the comparison further, it is fair to note that Russian IT engineering programs last five years, not four. So, if you add up the total study years of Russian and Indian IT engineering graduates, Russia actually has 58 percent of India's capacity.
As it turns out, however, IT engineering degrees are not the sum total of the global IT/BPO industry, which feeds mainly on warm English-speaking bodies of random competence levels. Russian IT/BPO companies like Auriga have never challenged that dynamic; instead, they have argued for a division of labor in which the heavy IT, engineering, and science lifting goes to Russia while lower-margin BPO, IT maintenance, and other low-level work stays in India.
If the trend on which Auriga has put its finger proves to be sustainable, Russia, Inc. will soon be challenging India, Inc.