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| Saurabh Srivastava
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| Executive chairman,
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| Xanza
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| We have not done all we should do to prevent the backlash and the opposition to outsourcing to India. Our companies should play a more proactive role.
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| I think that we need to continuously educate and engage with the local markets in the US and UK to prevent any sort of backlash against outsourcing to Indian companies. We should be working on a permanent basis and not just when there is a bill or a mass movement against outsourcing.
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| We should be working closely with policy makers and the political leadership to prevent any legal steps by the US states to stop outsourcing to India.
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| Corporations in those markets have realised the benefits of outsourcing to India and now we should educate the people about the benefits of outsourcing. We should educate US politicians that an anti-outsourcing bill like that of the New Jersey state makes for poor economics.
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| We, at an industry-body level with Nasscom, have been working on various levels. Nasscom has done a good job to work on macro-level to educate people about the issue. Individual companies need to step in now to play their part.
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| Indian software companies should attempt to apprise the global markets about the benefits of outsourcing to India. Besides, companies should also look at steps to tackle the negative sentiments that prevail against outsourcing to Indian companies.
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| You cannot stop bills by private members to ban outsourcing, but you can always stop them from reaching the legislation level by engaging with high-level policy makers and decision makers.
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| It is natural to have negative sentiments and political pressure on outsourcing because it is leading to job losses. But our companies must educate the local market in the US and UK about the benefits of outsourcing.
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| Companies in the US and UK are staying competitive and surviving only because of outsourcing to more cost-effective markets. Our attempt should be to educate the local markets that the current job loss is temporary.
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| Imagine what would happen if a company had to shut down because it was not competitive. We must sensitise the local economy that the temporary job loss in the short run is better than the long-term unstable economy.
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| Besides, Indian companies should start engaging and contributing to the local economies of those markets. This can be done by setting up centres for software development there as well as employing people of those markets in Indian companies. Our companies should now start thinking and working like global companies and not just Indian companies.
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| Individual companies needs to strengthen the outsourcing business model. They can do this by partnering with US companies with a presence in the target market. Indian companies should use branding and value addition to mitigate the negative perception and should take steps to mitigate its image of a cheaper alternative.
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| Our software and IT-enabled services companies are at nascent stages of growth and their experience is also limited. They are also learning to work as a global corporation.
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| I think, in the long run we would be able to limit such outcry against outsourcing. Besides, we need to educate the US market that even the Indian economy has undergone these pains.
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| We have also seen job cuts and closing down of companies as a result of competition and companies attempting to be competitive. We had seen this in the banking, insurance and other services industry.
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| People who campaign against outsourcing must realise that, in an era of free trade, jobs would go to the most competitive markets and players. If some jobs are coming to India, similarly some jobs are going to the US and UK markets from India as well.
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| Indian companies are engaging with US consultancy firms because they are more competitive and offer the best services. Similarly, multinational banks are performing better compared to Indian banks because they offer better and competitive services. Should we protest against these developments?
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| Kiran Karnik
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| President,
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| Nasscom
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| I think that we have done well enough to generate awareness about the benefits of outsourcing to India and to limit the backlash on business process outsourcing (BPO) to India. I am happy with the success we have had.
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| But I consider it a continuous process. We have also been successful in getting the various issues related to outsourcing high on the agenda of the Indian policy makers.
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| Our area of activity in the US is centred on a few basic issues. First, outsourcing is an activity that has arisen out of business necessity and perfected by US corporations. Now, the US companies are depending on outsourcing to stay competitive and cut costs.
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| We would like to highlight the fact that outsourcing is not a political issue but an economic issue and it is not an India-US issue. The US companies outsource more to non-Indian companies.
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| We believe that this outcry is a result of depressed economic conditions in the US and not a concerted backlash directed against India as it is being perceived.
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| Outsourcing has been the preferred business response in the wake of the enormous pressure that businesses worldwide are faced with and we believe this trend will continue, given the tangible benefits in terms of cost savings, quality and productivity.
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| Outsourcing to Indian IT vendors has been recognised as creating wealth for US corporations and in turn for the US economy, offering lower prices and better service to US consumers and enhancing the competitiveness of the entire economy.
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| We have been able to educate the US policy and decision makers about the benefits of outsourcing. We have pointed out that jobs cuts would have been higher in the US, if US companies did not outsource.
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| The fact that many of the proposed legislations in the US did not go through many stages shows that we have been able to sensitise people about the benefits of outsourcing.
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| As part of its communication campaign to build a better brand equity for the Indian software sector and address issues of concern in other countries about the Indian market, Nasscom had appointed Hill & Knowlton Inc as its lobbyist for the US and UK markets.
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| The overall perspective is to spread the entire activity in two broad phases with the first phase focusing on retaining India's leadership image and the second phase concentrating on enhancing it.
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| The campaign is aimed at influencing key decision makers, influencers, policy makers, industry analysts, academicians, senior government officials, media and the IT community about India's value proposition as an IT destination.
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| One of the major objectives of the campaign is to communicate the business value and competitive edge that Indian IT vendors are offering to the global enterprises in a tough market environment. We have been able to propagate India's brand equity as a destination for the entire spectrum of IT services from outsourcing to consulting.
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| The initiatives will also monitor and provide inputs to new policy and regulatory issues related to the Indian IT industry. Another aim to interact with senior government officials and senators to address issues such as bilateral totalisation agreements, offshore outsourcing, immigrating and removal of the trade barriers.
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| We understand that job cuts in the US are raising a massive emotional outcry and it has been projected that the job cuts are due to outsourcing. We have been able to reduce this and at least the business and political leadership is aware of this. The US economy goes through this phase cyclically.
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| Our economy has opened up considerably and we had also gone through this pain many times. The influence of US companies in our life is immense. We wake up in the morning, use Colgate toothpaste and use a Ford or some car with a US brand to go to office and we use computers and software developed by US companies. We have benefited from this.
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| Nasscom is engaged with trade bodies such as ITAA, US Chamber of Commerce, key customers across the US to provide them details about how Indian IT industry has made US businesses more competitive. Nasscom initiated dialogue with various policy makers, legislators, customers about the benefits of outsourcing to India.
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| It has, for example, provided detailed information on how US industries like banks, insurance and other financial institutions have benefited (in terms of a high productivity-quality-rate model which brings in better revenues) as a result of increased outsourcing of IT and back-office operations to India over the years. |
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