India's information technology sector would require nearly 500,000 professionals in the next five years to cater to the growing needs of this booming industry, Kiran Karnik, president National Association of Software and Service Companies said on Wednesday.

Currently, the industry required 300,000 professionals, however the number was expected to nearly double with the sector being poised for huge growth, he said during the inauguration of the country's first IT finishing school.

Though the institutes churned out a huge number of engineering graduates, the industry was left with less than 300,000 professionals to hire from, since many of them turned entrepreneurs, some sought jobs overseas while others opted for higher studies, Karnik said.

It was not only shortage of numbers that was a matter of concern but also the quality being churned out.

"We have been expressing our concern on human resource position in terms of quality. Several graduates lacked polish and there was huge gap in the areas of soft skills like communication, articulation, and team work," he said.

Applauding the setting up of the RIIIT finishing school at Mysore, he said such a finishing school would result in the development of industry-ready professionals.

The need of the hour was not only to ensure that the education process turned more responsive to industry needs but also to rope in industry personnel in curriculum drafting and training process.

He also called for liberating education from its current bureaucratic regulations and encourage private players to enter the field.

The education sector could be modeled on the lines of the health sector, which is booming with the entry of many private players, Karnik said.

He also called for setting up of special education zones, liberated from bureaucratic regulations and based on pure market forces.

"We need to look at innovation and explore different avenues," he said, adding that such ideas could be experimented and their viability tested.

Karnik said that he was not in favour of the government completely withdrawing its role from the education sector but encourage public private partnership on the education front.

Earlier, speaking to reporters, he said that the appreciation of the rupee was a matter of concern to the IT sector. The rupee had appreciated nearly eight to nine per cent in the last four months, which was impacting the industry.