Nasscom , India 's software employers’ organisation, launched a nationwide register of IT employees on January 18, aimed at preventing security breaches.

The register, believed to be the first of its kind, will include workers’ photographs, fingerprints, signatures, passport numbers, educational backgrounds and employment histories. The database will be voluntary for workers but employers may choose to hire only those on the register.

“It should serve as a deterrent to organised crime,” said Sunil Mehta, Nasscom vice-president, on the sidelines of the India-US Information Security Summit in New Delhi. “The leading 50 BPO [business-process outsourcing] firms will not hire any new employees unless they register.”

Earlier this year, allegations of impropriety shook the IT industry, the bedrock of India's booming economy. The $5.2bn (€4.3bn, £2.9bn) call-centre industry came under heavy scrutiny in April after three employees of Mphasis, a Bangalore-based outsourcing firm, were arrested for allegedly stealing $350,000 from Citibank account holders in New York. Two months later, an IT employee in Delhi was reported to have sold confidential information on 1,000 UK banking customers.

Mr Mehta said he expected 1.3m workers covering 1,000 companies to be registered within 12 to 18 months. Employee data are to be refreshed every five years.

IT companies Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services and Mphasis have already mobilised employees to sign up. The database will be monitored by independent background checkers, such as KPMG and Quest Research.

Deepankar Sanwalka, head of forensics at KPMG, said the database would not only make it difficult for repeat offenders to perpetrate identity theft, it would also reduce industry costs.

(http://news.ft.com)