IT industry a Public Utility Service only on paper, finds survey

The survey was conducted by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on the IT and ITeS industry in West Bengal. Almost 75 per cent of the respondents said ‘no’ when asked whether the sector really enjoys the status of a ‘Public Utility Service’, which means that it can operate on a 24x7 model and could not be disrupted by strikes/bandhs.

The white paper based on the survey was released in the city by ICC president Harsh K Jha today.

Another interesting finding of the survey was that 78.2 per cent of the respondents felt that having a trade union and the right to strike in the IT and ITeS sector was inappropriate.

“The industry has clearly sent out a strong message that the IT sector in the state should not be made a fertile ground for strikes and bandhs,” said Jha.

He added that frequent strikes in the state did not serve any purpose and instead annoyed foreign clients who want to work on a 24x7 basis. “They (international clients) might overlook this once or twice. But after that, they would prefer to move away their business to a place where they get uninterrupted work,” Jha said.

Frequent disruptions and bandhs ranked as the top-most obstacle in terms of attracting top IT professionals to Bengal — 53.12 per cent of the respondents said so. While 14.6 per cent of the professionals attributed this to comparatively lower salaries offered in the state than other IT destinations, another 12.5 per cent felt that it was less challenging working here owing to inadequate projects.

Sixty per cent of the respondents also felt that the formation of trade unions in the IT sector in Bengal might harm the state, especially since a Marxist government is in power.

“A majority (of the respondents) thinks that a Marxist government can be an encouragement to trade union activities in the IT and ITeS sector in the state,” the survey states.

Despite the negatives, the survey has found that 80 per cent thought Bengal is a competitive IT destination in India and a little over 58 per cent felt that the West Bengal government’s 2010 vision of contributing 15 to 20 per cent to the country’s revenue from the IT sector was achievable.

“We are going to submit a copy of the report to the state government so that they can have a look at it and take appropriate steps,” said Jha.