Six years after it was initiated, Nasscom’s (National Association of Software and Services Companies) move to have a unified and verified database of the IT workforce has still not found enough endorsement by its own member companies.
The National Skill Registry (NSR) was proposed and started as an industry best-practice, wherein registered IT employees would also be required to undergo background verification. IT companies were encouraged to tie up with the initiative, and recognise the verification procedures and the IT database of NSR.
However, since its launch in 2008, NSR could attract only 150-odd IT companies in the country to its fold, whereas Nasscom has a membership of more than 1,700 companies.
While the initiative is aimed at eliminating third-party screening of fake profiles and credentials of job applicants, the ground reality is that many companies prefer to go about hiring in their own way.
“There are different criteria for different positions and depending on the profile, we prefer to go with our own existing system,” said a senior executive at an MNC in Hyderabad.
Another senior employee of a global consultancy firm in Bengaluru said, “Our’s is a global firm with offices in other countries. We already have global tie-ups for background verification. Though NSR is a need-of-the hour initiative, it is not easy for an MNC in India to be a part of it.”
However, the employees seem to be more enthusiastic about NSR than their employers. Recently, the web membership of IT and ITeS employees in NSR crossed the 16-lakh mark, and biometric submissions 10 lakh. About 19 credible background verifiers are part of the NSR to look into the professional authenticity of the registered employees.
Analysing the situation, Nasscom vice-president K.R. Vishwanathan said that though the NSR has tie-ups with 150 companies, the employees of these companies account to almost 60 per cent of the country’s workforce.
“MNCs and the smaller companies might not be a part of the NSR due to various reasons. However, our membership is increasing. We are also ascertaining the global best-practices that can be introduced in the NSR in the near future,” he said.
