The Indian IT training market, which was about $700 million in 2008, is fuelled by the demand for on-site deployment of certified training resources and the robustness of the domestic economy.

The resilient Indian software industry will require around 2.3-million engineers by 2010.

The industry trade forum, National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), however, fears a shortage of 500,000 skilled professionals in the next two years despite investments in certification and training on a select basis by many Indian IT enterprises.

Software certification and training growth in Asia-Pacific's key markets are also being driven by a number of local factors.

In Australia, the government has identified the need for skilled resources to remain globally competitive and has made $56 million available for IT training over four years as part of its $837-million programme to ease the skills crisis.

In Singapore too, investment to expand the IT workforce is driving the market.

Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will invest $47 million by 2013 to expand the IT workforce in the island state. IDA is investing in reality-high-performance computing, unlimited bandwidth and on-demand services.

IDA is also investing $815 million to fund new information and communication (ICT) projects to help generate the skills of the next generation of IT professionals.