US Slowdown 'Bytes' Desi Computer Institutes

With dollar dreams turning nightmares for Indian techidom, thanks to the US economic slowdown, the horror story for computer training institutes here seems to have just begun.

Computer institutes in Cyberabad are cribbing of falling numbers of aspiring techies, and in turn, revenues. Though some major institutes refuse to divulge the volume of fall in revenues, others estimate it as much as 30 per cent.

"This year it will be as much as 25 to 30 per cent of total sales," says Mr R Prasad, centre director of First Computers, part of Chennai-based Brilliant Tutorials group.

Working professionals trying to get into IT, by doing short term courses, especially Java-related courses, have drastically reduced, as much as by 50 to 60 percent, the director of the institute, with a turnover of Rs 15 to 16 lakhs, told ET.

Another institute, Arena Multimedia, with a turnover of a crore, is fearing a fall in revenues of 15 to 20 per cent.

"Dotcoms (related courses) fetched us a lot of money, but Web designing is now failing. The enrollment in a certificate course in Web engineering has fallen from 80 students per month to 20-25 now," Mr Praveen Pathak, centre manager, told ET.

Enrollments in the JFM period for Web-designing and e-commerce related courses at the First Computers too has come down to 15 to 20 as against 50 students last year. Internet programming and e-commerce courses with modules on Web designing, core Java, scripting, e-commerce technologies, site server, WAP and XML are seeing a decline, Mr Prasad adds.

Agrees NIIT's marketing executive Mr Anand Mehta: "There haven't been any enquiries for Java."

"In Hyderabad, there has always been a demand for mostly short-term courses. The dotcom bust has built in a fear into the younger generation about quick death of specific computer courses. They generally take up part-time in-demand courses. The fluctuations are too risky," says Mr Pathak.

But, institutes are refusing to "byte the dust" with support from the craze for newer kinds of courses and the high local demand for IT professionals.

"The hype has shifted from e-commerce, Web designing and Java to newer courses such as CSharp, a scripting language for Microsoft's .Net platform, and the basic old fundamental courses such as Oracle DBA with Unix platform. And 30 to 40 per cent of aspiring techies here go by hype," says NIIT's Mr Mehta.

The higher-end training courses such as Unix, C, C++ and Oracle are back in demand. So are career courses such as computer based training (CBT), and those related to print and publishing, advertising, film-making, games and virtual reality, entertainment.

It is this demand that the institutes are trying to cash on now. "There is always the growing segment of undergraduates and graduates taking up long-term courses of fundamentals, programming languages. This segment rises annually by 10-15 percent," says Mr Prasad.

"The craze can never die. The job opportunities in the local markets are abundant," agrees Mr Pathak. Something that's confirmed by a recent survey on the latest employment trends in the job market across the country.

According to the survey by CareerMosaicIndia.com, IT/Communication with 30 per cent, and software development with 13.8 per cent created the maximum employment opportunities among the top five industries, followed by engineering with 7 per cent, academics with 5 per cent and ERP/Business solution with 3.5 per cent.

The survey also finds Hyderabad offering the second highest employment opportunities -- 13.61 per cent -- in the country, after Mumbai with 17.44 per cent. Delhi and Bangalore follow closely with 13.12 per cent and 12.61 per cent respectively. Also, in Hyderabad, IT accounts for 53.37 per cent of the total jobs, according to the survey based on job ads in 29 Indian dailies and magazines from August 2000 to January 2001.

The survey also reveals good news for freshers. There is a huge demand for junior level employees, especially in the IT industry, with the highest opportunity of 56 per cent, followed by middle level at 30 per cent and senior level with 12 per cent and top level with 2 per cent.

Function wise, IT and IT/communications dominate the trends in the functional areas. The maximum employment opportunities are in software development with 48 per cent, followed by engineering at 14 per cent, marketing at 9 percent, sales at 6.04 percent and academics 5 per cent.