60% IT workforce of Pune & Mumbai is from Vidarbha: TCS Centre Head
Nagpur: Dispelling long-standing assumptions about the employable talent in Vidarbha, Arvind Kumar, centre head of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), revealed that nearly 60% of the IT workforce in Pune and Mumbai comes from Vidarbha.
Speaking at the VISTAAR industry-academia conclave hosted by Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Kumar said this statistic alone proves the untapped potential of Vidarbha as a growing reservoir of tech talent.
"Many still believe that Vidarbha lacks skilled IT professionals, but the numbers say otherwise," Kumar noted. Reinforcing this, he shared that TCS hired 390 engineering interns from the region last year — more than from any other single region across India.
Kumar traced this growing synergy between academia and industry to collaborative initiatives started nearly a decade ago. Back in 2015, when VNIT supported the formation of IIIT Nagpur, discussions began around transforming traditional engineering education. This led to the conceptualisation of a six-month internship model aimed at ensuring students graduate with hands-on, job-ready experience. "The idea was simple — bridge the classroom with the workplace.
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We wanted young engineers who could hit the ground running," Kumar said.
Highlighting a recent initiative, Kumar spoke about a six-month hackathon organised by TCS, where 23 real-world industrial problems relevant to Nagpur's local industries were tackled by teams of students and faculty. "It wasn't just about solving problems; it was about instilling confidence. Interns who were initially hesitant eventually emerged as capable contributors," he said.
Kumar stressed that mentorship, industry exposure, and real engagement are critical in shaping young talent. "Industries need to move beyond expecting ready-made professionals. They must invest in nurturing students, understand their context, and build pathways for growth," he said. He also urged academic institutions to proactively reach out to industry partners and form meaningful collaborations.
Reflecting on his connection with VNIT, Kumar called it a growing, purposeful partnership and gave a call to action: "Real growth happens when academia and industry move in sync — not just in intention, but in execution."
Addressing the gathering earlier, VNIT director Prem Lal Patel also stressed on the need for meaningful interaction between academia and industry to enable the students to face challenges in the real world. "This is a tool to supplement each other, and that would happen only if we can have extensive interaction with each other," he asserted, thus laying stress on the need for interaction with one another.
Emphasising the importance of work exposure, he said that VNIT now allows 8th semester students to undertake longer internships, provided they have enough credit points till the 7th semester. He also invited industry participation through the Boards of Studies and Senate membership. A joint assessment of projects like VTEC and FTEC was suggested to sync academic work with industrial needs. "We can work together and assess, and also get an idea of what the industry needs are," he added further.
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