Andhra Pradesh government investment in IT sector by 2020

Andhra Pradesh government targets Rs 12,000 cr investment in IT sector by 2020

Andhra Pradesh government aims to attract investment of Rs 12,000 crore in the Information Technology sector and that of Rs 30,000 crore in the electronics sector by 2020, which is expected to generate five lakh jobs. 

The government also aims to create "at least one IT literate per family" besides an IT entrepreneur, according to the IT and Communications Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy. 

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu released "a blue print" for IT, electronics and e-governance here today. 

Explaining its salient features to reporters later, the IT minister said three missions, one each on IT and electronics, e-governance and innovative capacity building, would be created with a budget of Rs 1,785 crore to achieve the objectives. 

An advisory council of experts would be set up for each mission. 

"Climate for IT sector is very encouraging in the state. Companies are ready to invest in the state but are awaiting the new IT policy. The Chief Minister reviewed it here today and the new policy is expected to be discussed and approved at the next meeting of the Cabinet," Reddy said. 

While Visakhapatnam would be the main hub for IT development, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Anantapuram would also see growth in the sector. 

An IT incubation centre would be opened in Visakhapatnam by October, the minister said. 

Wipro BSE -1.23 % has already readied it's expansion plans in Visakhapatnam to create additional employment for 7,000 youths. 

Women paid less than male

Women paid 33% less than male counterparts in IT industry

The Indian information technology industry is widely regarded to be among the most undiscriminating when it comes to gender. But even then, salary differences between men and women is almost a third.

Industry body Nasscom said this is mainly because fewer women are getting promoted to supervisory roles. Typically, a male employee earns a gross salary of Rs 359.25 an hour while a female worker gets only Rs 254.04. With more number of career breaks in their job history, the negotiating capacity of women in the labour market declines, according to the "Monster Salary Index India IT Sector Report 2014" that was released at the Nasscom HR Summit 2014 in Chennai.

Currently, women make 30% of the total Indian IT sector workforce. "The information is factual but that does not mean that there is a disparity," said Nasscom president R Chandrasekhar. He explained that the IT sector had 65% of women at the entry level, while the mid management and senior management had 27% and 9% of women, respectively.

Chandrasekhar also pointed women find it harder to accumulate tenure due to family obligations. "Women are paid equally when they come back but due to the break their bargaining power is less at times."

Tata Consultancy Services, one of the largest recruiter in the country, said it does not discriminate on the basis of gender. "TCS is an equal opportunity employer. As per the Tata code of conduct, we do not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity and culture," said a TCS spokesperson. Of the 3, 05,000 employees around 32.7% are women at TCS.

Sucharita Palepu, the global head of people policies and practices at Tech Mahindra, said the same about her organisation. "Tech Mahindra's compensation philosophy is to Pay for 3 Ps-Position, Person (based on qualifications, experience and skills) and Performance and this philosophy is applied uniformly to associates from both genders," she said. Meanwhile Nasscom has also indicated that in fiscal 2015 net hiring in the industry would grow by 6% over last year. The industry is expected to add 1,80,000 employees.

"Hiring will be moderately higher and smaller firms will grow faster. The industry 10% more laterals this year," said Sangeetha Gupta, senior vice president of Nasscom.

IT professionals may get hike this year

IT professionals may get double-digit hike 

this year

Riding on the back of better functioning performance, tech companies are likely to dole out higher wage increases for employees in the current year. After an average 8-10% hikes last year, the IT staff can expect a double-digit increase in remunerations this year, industry body Nasscom said on Wednesday.

The assessment, based on an internal survey of Nasscom members, indicates that attrition levels and lateral hiring will also increase.

India's $118 billion InfoTech industry — the largest private sector employer in the country with more than 3.1 million on rolls — is projected to grow 13-15% as against 13.2% last year.

"Industry average hikes will be slightly higher than last year," Sangeeta Gupta, VP research at Nasscom, said on the sidelines of an HR summit in Chennai. She said effective middle managers will get the best rewards through increased variable pay and incentives.

READ ALSO: 'Indian IT faces gender pay gap of 29%' 

Middle management techies will get 11-15% hikes while entry and senior management will receive 5-10% increases. "These projections are made based on an internal survey which we did of our members. We received responses from over 100 firms which account for over 42 to 45% of IT revenues," she said.

The IT industry has instituted innovative incentive schemes to reward performance this year. Some of these include skill bonus, zero attrition unit incentive and project-based incentives, she said.

There will also be a shift in recruitment practices undertaken by companies. "The estimates are we will recruit 1.80 lakh employees this year (or a 6% increase) of which lateral hiring will be more than last year," she said.

A back of the envelope calculation shows nearly 3 out of every 10 are lateral hires in the tech industry. "We see a shift in this. There will be a 10% increase in lateral hires and reduced intake from campuses," Gupta said. Referrals and recruitments through job portals will rise.