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DECEMBER 14, 2006
IT industry body Nasscom is planning to institute an award to recognize and
award IT companies in India that create a conducive environment for women to
grow and excel.
Women form around 30 percent of the IT industry's work force, which is
expected to increase to 45 percent by 2010.
Nasscom President Kiran Karnik, said, “Today, the IT industry is one of the
leading employment generating sectors with 1.3 million employed directly and over 3 million indirectly. While many IT
industry players already follow good HR practices, we also see certain examples
of extraordinary practices that enable gender empowerment. It is with the
objective of recognizing and propagating such practices that Nasscom will
constitute an annual award for companies.”
Nasscom is working on the modalities of the award and expects to initiate the
awards next year. In his address at the first Nasscom IT women's leadership
summit here today, NR Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and Chairman of Infosys
board, stressed on the need for greater inclusivity for women in the work place.
He rued that India is still a poor performer when it comes to gender related
development on global indices. “India is ranked 98th on the UNDP index out of
150 countries. We are ranked lower than Sri Lanka, Kenya and Algeria. Moreover
the ratio of average income of female:male is around 0.38, which is the lowest
among BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.”
Murthy said that Infosys is taking up a lot of women-friendly policies such
as creating satellite offices for young mothers and also one-year sabbaticals.
He added that in the period between May-September 2006, around 33 percent of
those recruited in Infosys were women.
“But we are still toddlers in this area and have a long way to go,” he
said referring to implementing broader policies concerning women empowerment.
Murthy urged the industry to carry out studies on productivity measures
exploring flexibility measures that cover not just women but the whole
workforce.