Mumbai: HCL Infosystems will open 100 more career development centres across the country within a year, in a bid to bridge the gap between demand and supply of skilled professionals in the IT sector.

"We will be opening 100 more such centres in the country which will involve the enrollment of 60,000-70,000 students within next 12 months," Rajendra Kumar, executive vice president of the $2.7-billion HCL Infosystems, said after launching its 31st centre.

The company has enrolled 5,000-6,000 students in these centres.
"It is estimated that there is an annual demand of around 2 lakh networking professionals in the country while the supply is limited to about 60 per cent of the demand," he added.

By 2010, he said, there would be a demand for 2.3 million professionals in the country.