Outsourcing cos betting on India

The scions of India's outsourcing industry gathered in Mumbai to kick off a subdued version of their annual conference, hosted by indust
ry group Nasscom.

If the conference was any indicator, financial turmoil in the US and shifting patterns of global growth are making the market for offshore services more decentralised. With budgets shrinking and decision making frozen in the developed world, India has become a particular focus of hope.

Outsourcing companies, both from India and abroad, are looking at India's domestic market -- long ignored because of its small size and piddling margins -- with renewed interest. Foreign delegations are also courting India as a source of investment dollars and jobs in these cash-strapped times.

“The IT industry has looked outwards. Now it is time to look inwards,'' commerce minister Kamal Nath told delegates.

The engines of India's outsourcing boom -- US firms and the global financial services industry -- have choked, and a faint sense of gloom hung in the air on the conference's opening day. Attendance and sponsorships were off 20 per cent, and delegates got bags made of cloth instead of leather -- a shift organisers insisted had more to do with environmental concerns than fiscal ones.

But despite the global downturn, India's domestic information technology services sector grew 20 per cent this year and hardware sales surged 17 per cent, according to Nasscom.

The potential for technology in India is plain: Just 2 per cent of Indians have computers. Half the population doesn't have access to primary health care, 80 per cent of households don't use banks, and there's a dire need for teachers -- all problems technology could help solve.

But multinationals have been quicker to jump into the Indian market than domestic firms. Research firm Gartner says IBM is the leader in India's domestic market, though Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest outsourcing firm by revenues, also has a strong presence.

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Outsourcing/Outsourcing_cos_betting_on_India

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Outsourcing cos betting on India