BPO

Hindustan Times, India
11/09/2004
BPO CLOSER HOME. New Indian initiative.
Bengaluru-based Infosys Technologies� back-office subsidiary, Progeon, recently opened an office in the Czech Republic and Mphasis BFL's arm, MSource, in Mexico. All this is a part of the Indian initiative to cater to outsourcers� demand to back up data in diverse locations, among other considerations. The other factor is to tap non-English speaking clients. India handles 80 per cent of the offshore outsourcing business, earning $3.6 billion and employing 245,000 people, �six times as many as five years ago�, principally in key locations such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi. techrepublic.com.

INDIAN IT�S LATEST FOE. Can you name it?
Gartner did a study of the �Indian information technology services companies' dominance of the global IT market�. The conclusion it reached was that this very dominance �may put them at risk of losing India's growing domestic market for IT services to overseas rivals if they do not refocus on their own backyard�. Gartner estimates the Indian market growing �by more than 17 per cent on a compounded annual basis through 2008�. Indeed, �India's market is growing faster than those of regional counterparts Singapore, China and Australia,� claims Craig Baty, group vice president and chief of research at Gartner. The report cautions: "Just as Indian players are trying to enter the � US markets, � global players are increasingly realizing the importance of India as an outsourcing destination and are setting up development centers." What the �new players in the Indian market� are doing is to �use local delivery centers not only to service their offshore business but also to target the local IT services market here.� A latest instance is IBM bagging �a contract worth about $750 million from wireless services provider Bharti Tele-Ventures earlier this year, causing consternation within the Indian IT industry�.