Indian IT workers are flooding the UK on temporary permits, undercutting local wages and raising prospects of a homegrown skills shortage, an IT association has claimed.

"Wages are being undercut by companies bringing over Indian workers, who are put up in hostels and paid poorly," Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association for Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCO) said.

According to her, salaries for certain IT workers have fallen in recent months.

Home office immigration figures show that 21,448 foreign IT workers have been issued work permits this year, an increase of 15 per cent on 2004 and almost double the level five years ago. Of those, 85 per cent now come from India.

Separate research from pay scale, a pay-monitoring firm shows that an experienced software programmer in India receives 6,600 pounds a year compared with 33,000 pounds for his counterpart in the UK.

After paying their travel, permits and living expenses, the Indian workers are 'charged out to clients at around half the rate asked for a similarly homegrown IT expert (350 pounds a day against 650 pounds),' Elizabeth Gordon-Pugh of outsourcing consultant Alsbridge has estimated.

"One Indian supplier operating in the UK has around 80 per cent of its 2,000 plus staff in the UK comprised of Indians on assignment from a few weeks to several years," the daily quoted her as saying.

ATSCO's research shows that the 'Commoditisation' of it services has reduced average salaries for permanent it helpdesk workers by 3 per cent this year to 17,538 pounds and for temporary workers by 25 per cent to 12 pounds an hour.

( www.expressindia.com)