The neglected earning avenue
Monday, 9 July 2007
It was nothing less than having to hear the old complaints again. That too after a long time, at least after five long years, within which the complaints could be settled. A professional seminar in Dhaka last week, arranged by the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), again identified the dearth of educated IT experts and lack of specialisation, linguistic barrier, negative image of the country and separate time zone as the major problems depriving this country from having a good share of the rapidly expanding global IT outsourcing business. The international adviser of the UK trade and investment department, who attended the seminar, said Bangladesh is not yet known in his country as an information technology (IT) exporter. He recommended that efforts be made to establish a positive image abroad about the country's IT exporting capacity.
Among the said four obstacles, the fifth, about time zone, a factor of geographical location of the country, is unalterable and thus a constant. The fourth, relating to the country's negative global image, is largely man-made. It is an issue that either the politicians, who jumble up internal politics, or the nation itself should collectively address. But the major obstacles-- the first three are basically managerial problems, which can be successfully tackled and solved with firm commitment and efforts. These came within the official focus after the immediate past elected government had taken office. It was then decided that an IT park would be established and extensive efforts mounted to create more and more IT experts. It is time to critically assess and examine what specific steps were in fact taken in the past and how far the same succeeded in attaining those goals. Without such a stocktaking, the nation may have to hear the same complaints after another five years, may be even after ten years.
The IT business is not capital intensive. It is a booming export-oriented service sector in some countries, where sufficient local professional expertise has been created through appropriate manpower development. The business will expand continually. Its main capital being the human brain, trained on specific skills, its major input can be basically local and the value addition level higher than 80 per cent. Through organised hard efforts, concentrated mainly in one city-Bangalore-- India has already acquired an annual share worth about $ 30 billion in the global IT outsourcing business. According to estimates, her earning from the business will progressively rise. On the contrary, top managers in the government of this country, which has a population fewer than one seventh of India's over one billion, have been unwisely consistently happy barely with its export-oriented labour-intensive RMG business, earning annually about $8.0 billion. On deduction of costs of imported inputs, including depreciation of foreign-made machine and spares and charges of local utility services, which are nation-wide inadequate, the actual local value addition in this major export item may be too slim to deserve a notable mention.
With concentrated efforts put on IT development, if this country's income from IT outsourcing business could be raised to even one tenth of India's, the yearly earning from it now could be about $ 4.0 billion, if not more. This is not a hyperbolic assessment as this country has a large number of talented but unemployed young people with bachelor and post-graduate degrees in engineering, medicines, natural and applied sciences and social sciences. They could be trained up simultaneously both in IT and linguistic skills easily to form a strong manpower base for a burgeoning IT outsourcing business. The government may attract them on reasonable monthly stipends in batches to select institutes, equipped adequately with technical instruments and able trainers, for skill development through training for six months or one year. It will surely prove as a very good investment in future.
Among the said four obstacles, the fifth, about time zone, a factor of geographical location of the country, is unalterable and thus a constant. The fourth, relating to the country's negative global image, is largely man-made. It is an issue that either the politicians, who jumble up internal politics, or the nation itself should collectively address. But the major obstacles-- the first three are basically managerial problems, which can be successfully tackled and solved with firm commitment and efforts. These came within the official focus after the immediate past elected government had taken office. It was then decided that an IT park would be established and extensive efforts mounted to create more and more IT experts. It is time to critically assess and examine what specific steps were in fact taken in the past and how far the same succeeded in attaining those goals. Without such a stocktaking, the nation may have to hear the same complaints after another five years, may be even after ten years.
The IT business is not capital intensive. It is a booming export-oriented service sector in some countries, where sufficient local professional expertise has been created through appropriate manpower development. The business will expand continually. Its main capital being the human brain, trained on specific skills, its major input can be basically local and the value addition level higher than 80 per cent. Through organised hard efforts, concentrated mainly in one city-Bangalore-- India has already acquired an annual share worth about $ 30 billion in the global IT outsourcing business. According to estimates, her earning from the business will progressively rise. On the contrary, top managers in the government of this country, which has a population fewer than one seventh of India's over one billion, have been unwisely consistently happy barely with its export-oriented labour-intensive RMG business, earning annually about $8.0 billion. On deduction of costs of imported inputs, including depreciation of foreign-made machine and spares and charges of local utility services, which are nation-wide inadequate, the actual local value addition in this major export item may be too slim to deserve a notable mention.
With concentrated efforts put on IT development, if this country's income from IT outsourcing business could be raised to even one tenth of India's, the yearly earning from it now could be about $ 4.0 billion, if not more. This is not a hyperbolic assessment as this country has a large number of talented but unemployed young people with bachelor and post-graduate degrees in engineering, medicines, natural and applied sciences and social sciences. They could be trained up simultaneously both in IT and linguistic skills easily to form a strong manpower base for a burgeoning IT outsourcing business. The government may attract them on reasonable monthly stipends in batches to select institutes, equipped adequately with technical instruments and able trainers, for skill development through training for six months or one year. It will surely prove as a very good investment in future.