By Andy McCue
Thursday, January 19 2006 06:08 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,39306203,00.htm

India is to set up a national register of IT professionals to help companies vet employees and carry out background checks on new recruits working in the offshore IT and BPO industry.

The new National Skills Registry (NSR) is backed by Indian IT trade association Nasscom and was set up following a series of customer data breaches at offshore call centres last year.

The NSR, set up by Nasscom and the National Securities Depositry, is a centralised database that will store information about each IT worker's educational and professional background. Biometric technology will be used to verify the identity of individuals.

Speaking at the launch of the NSR in India, Kiran Karnik, president of Nasscom, said: "Independent verification of data and biometric identification will not only increase security for companies and customers but will protect employees from criminal elements seeking to misuse their ID. This will be one more step towards sustaining India's competitive advantage in the global market."

Nasscom claims the NSR will increase the security of customer information and reduce the risk of companies hiring workers who have faked or forged documents.

Companies will only be able to view the information on the NSR with the consent of the employee.

Andy McCue of Silicon.com reported from London.