The Andhra Pradesh Government needs to be complimented for promoting new and emerging technologies in the IT sector, such as blockchain technology and fintech, which will create more employment opportunities than the conventional ones, according to Srinivas Kandula, CEO of Capgemini Technology Services India Ltd, Bengaluru, an IT services company.
He was speaking to the media at Gitam University here on Thursday after earlier addressing the students on a Skill India programme at a one-day seminar.
He said Visakhapatnam had all the advantages and potential to become the fintech hub of the country as envisaged by the AP government, but the skill levels of students would have to be improved.
He said it was widely agreed that most engineering graduates in the country did not have the requisite skills and companies were being forced to impart training to them. "I think we would have to reorient our approach and revise the curriculum to make ready skilled and employable engineering graduates for the industry. Right now, there is what is known as an empty raincoat syndrome. You see a raincoat on the screen and assume there is a person wearing it, but beneath there is no one and you find a huge gap. The analogy is quite apt for the kind of skill gap you find in the country," he explained and suggested methods to overcome the problem.
J.A. Chowdary, special adviser to the AP Government on the IT sector, said the state government was taking steps to develop Visakhapatnam as the fintech hub in the country and many fintech majors would set up shop here. He said the spectre of jobless growth was haunting the country and, therefore, the AP government was promoting IT technologies, such as blockchain tech, with huge job potential. Many R&D centres in the IT sector would come up here, he added.