India's Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) business could touch USD 10 billion by 2012, if the sector is opened for biotech and nano experts and steps are taken to build a strong chain of qualified professionals, a Assocham study said today.

Currently, the KPO market size is estimated to be around USD 5.5 billion and the sector is growing by about 15-17 per cent, dominated by professionals belonging to fields such as management, medical and engineering, the chamber said.

"Assocham has projected KPO industry s size growing to USD 8 billion in 2011 and touching the 10 billion mark by 2012 with a growth rate between 25-27 per cent subject .

The high growth rate in 2012 can be achieved "if a strong chain of qualified professionals is built and the field is opened for bio and nano experts," Assocham statement said.

The emerging KPO space constitutes a small part of the overall business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

"There is a need to create a new pool of KPO workers from emerging domestic knowledge based industries such as biotech and nanotech as large number of talented young people have joined academic courses for career excellence in these two areas," Assocham President Dilip Modi said.

A vast pool of highly educated professionals in engineering, medicines, management and professionals in the field of accountancy, company secretary, legal fraternity would be required to serve the industry, it said.

It said since the KPO sector deals with confidential data, including financial data, treasury and investment portfolio decisions, there is a need to address the issue of data security raised by international clients.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are likely to be the major growth drivers for the KPO sector, it added.