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China has edged out India in the availability of software developers and is closing the gap in the size of human resource skilled in information, communication and technology (ICT) – an area that India has dominated for over two decades.
US top the list The US continues to be the leader in both categories, according to research firm International Data Corp (IDC).
Globally, there are 18.5 million software developers of whom 11 million are professional developers and 7.5 million hobbyist developers (amateurs). There are 29 million ICT skilled workers, including professional software developers, and 18 million operations and management skilled workers.
The US accounts for 19 per cent of global software developers (both professional and hobbyists). China is ahead of India with 10 per cent while India’s share is 9.8 per cent. The US also accounts for 22 per cent of global ICT-skilled workers followed by India with 10.4 per cent and China with 7.6 per cent, IDC said.
The numbers of both developers and ICT-skilled workers are expected to grow over the next few years. However, shifts in how IT is being delivered through cloud-based services will favour the growth in software developers over other ICT-skilled workers, according to Al Hilwa, Program Director, Application Development Software, IDC. A few years ago, China decided to focus on knowledge-based businesses and to train people on coding / software development apart from making them proficient in English. Results are now showing with China fast catching up with India in ICT, said E. Balaji, a HR expert. China is home to successful Internet companies such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. “India’s track record in this aspect is patchy,” he said.
China is demonstrating its ambition in playing a global role in ICT. It has a large domestic market for ICT and many large software service firms and product companies of global scale have set up development centres in China to leverage on the local talent pool. However, they are not yet on an equal footing with India to work on a global scale, said Aditya Narayan Mishra, President, Staffing, Randstad India, an HR company.
India ahead Annually, India produces around 7.5 lakh engineers at a growth rate of 5 per cent whereas China produces around 25 per cent less in comparison. Indian graduates are more exposed to processes and systems during their academic years due to evolution of the IT industry over the last two decades and English as a spoken language is far more prevalent in India.
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