Mumbai: The country would require nearly five lakh IT professionals in the next five years to cater to the growing needs of the sector, NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik said.

The industry currently required three lakh professionals, and this number was expected to nearly double with the sector poised for huge growth, he said during the inauguration of the country''s first IT finishing school.

Despite the huge number of engineering graduates churned out by various institutes, the industry was left with less than three lakh professionals to hire from, he said.

While many of the new engineering graduates turned entrepreneurs, some sought jobs overseas while others opted for higher studies, Karnik pointed out.

However, he said it was not only shortage of numbers that was a matter of concern but also the quality of professional available.

"We have been expressing our concern on human resource position in terms of quality. Several graduates lacked polish and there was huge gap in the areas of soft skills like communication, articulation, and team work," he said.

The setting up of the RIIIT finishing school at Mysore, he said, would result in the development of industry-ready professionals.

He also called for liberating education from its current bureaucratic regulations and encourage private players to enter the field. The need of the hour was not only to ensure that the education process turned more responsive to industry needs but also to rope in industry personnel in curriculum drafting and training process, he said.

He also called for setting up of special education zones, liberated from bureaucratic regulations and based on pure market forces.

"We need to look at innovation and explore different avenues," he said, adding that such ideas could be experimented and their viability tested.