We need to quickly scale up our existing youth resource. We need to catch them young. We have to move from complacency to competency building and we have to acknowledge that the best platform for imbibing service skills in our youth, which can quickly be deployed to any industry, business or profession later, are the schools. Our estimate is that at least 30 per cent of our school graduating population can be adequately trained in soft-skills to support the demands of the ITES industry.

All that is required is to put them in high gear. We have to empower them with the right skill sets --- voice and accent neutralization, telesales and telemarketing skills, sensitisation to other cultures, flawless knowledge of the English language, possessing a general positive attitude, good inter personal skills etc.

It may be a giant leap of faith but it can power our economy by transforming our youth’s existing skill-sets.