India launches outsourcing staff database

Indian IT trade group Nasscom will next week launch a national registry of IT staff designed to tackle concerns over data security and corruption that are estimated to cost the country's IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry up to $8bn a year.

Sunil Mehta, vice president at Nasscom, said the National Skills Registry was a "global first" and would provide IT and BPO firms with information on the professional and educational background of potential employees. The largest 50 IT and BPO employers in India have already agreed to enlist their employees on the new database.

According to Nasscom the registry will enhance data security for firms moving back-office functions to India as employers will be able to verify job seekers' credentials and check the circumstances under which they left their last employer.

Maxine Holt of analyst company Butler Group welcomed the move, suggesting it will help appease some IT managers' concerns about staff integrity at Indian service providers. The concerns were fuelled by high-profile reports last year of corrupt Indian call centre staff selling customer bank account details to criminal gangs.

But Holt warned the scheme needs to be well managed to ensure employers have confidence in the register. "There is a high attrition rate and large numbers of entrants coming into the industry, so it will be a real challenge to ensure the database is kept up to date," she explained. "There will also need to be strong processes in place to ensure misinformation does not stop legitimate staff getting jobs."

In separate news, Hewlett Packard's Indian operation, HP Globalsoft, is facing legal action after a woman was raped and murdered last month while travelling to work at a Bangalore call centre operated by the company.

Under Karnataka state law, IT and BPO firms must provide secure transport to and from work for women employees, many of whom work night shifts. According to BBC reports, however, local police claim HP Globalsoft did not raise the alarm when the woman failed to arrive for work and officials said a case has now been filed against the company.

HP denies negligence, claiming in a statement that the taxi driver accused of the attack was not one of its authorised drivers. The company added that it has consulted local authorities in the wake of the attack and is "instituting increased security control measures to guard against future incidents".

Police have warned all IT firms operating in Bangalore to review procedures for transporting staff to work so that female employees are not left alone in cabs.