New Delhi , Jan 18

In a move that could effectively filter out errant employees and reduce the risk of fraud-related activities in the IT industry, Nasscom today launched the National Skills Registry - the first-ever centralized database of employees of IT services and BPO companies.

"This will be a centralized database of information about the employees' professional and educational background. The registry, which will be managed by National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), has been specially designed to ensure authenticity of data through independent verification and biometric identification of individual," said the Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, while launching the new database.

The registration process

IT and BPO aspirants and existing industry employees can register themselves either online or through three empanelled points of sale.

They must provide details such as name, educational and professional qualifications, previous employment information, photograph, and fingerprint.

There is a validation history associated with each section that will reflect the details of validation.

This would be charged at Rs.250, with an annual membership charge of Rs.50 to keep the access alive.

NSDL has further empanelled seven background checking agencies, including Advantage Quest, KPMG, Finserv, Pres Enterprises, Top Securities, and Onicra Credit Rating, to run the required verification checks.

IT and BPO employees can approach any of these agencies and ask them to run verification checks for which the charges would be Rs.1,500-2,000; the same can be done by the existing or prospective employers after an authorization by the employee.

Firms that use information from the registry are expected to contribute the results of their validation efforts back to the registry.

"The privacy of employees would be maintained, as only the employee can authorize potential employer to view his or her information. No employer can add anything to the registry except factual data. The charge for the service has been kept at an affordable level," said the Nasscom President, Mr Kiran Karnik.