India's high-tech boom suffers manpower shortage

The booming information technology sector in India says it's facing a severe shortage of skilled workers.

A survey carried out by the software industry says it has about sixty-seven thousand unfilled job vacancies at the moment and it fears the shortfall could be well into the millions within ten years.

The country's computer professionals are much in demand in the United States and Europe and Indian companies say they can't compete in terms of salaries and benefits.

Economists have proposed much greater investment in primary and secondary education, but the BBC correspondent in Delhi says it's hard to see where the money will be found, with the national budget deep in deficit for years to come,

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service