Last year alone, outsourcing in India grew over 25 per cent, and India continued its domination over other competing countries such as China, Ireland, Israel and the Philippines.
India is in a position to cater to the demands of the market. Its biggest strength is its vast supply of over 2 million graduates and 300,000 post graduates that pass out of its colleges each year. Its vast resource of English-speaking college-educated workforce and low-cost labour gives it an edge in the offshoring world.
Its not only about the cost
Many people think that India is the preferred outsourcing destination because of its low cost. Yet, it isn’t only the cost factor that continues to make India an attractive outsourcing destination. The quality of manpower combined with an extremely sophisticated vendor base and improvements in local infrastructure have put it ahead of other destinations.
“India has always had brilliant, educated people,” tech-trend forecaster Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California, told the Business Week magazine. Quietly, but with breathtaking speed, India and its millions of world-class engineering, business, and medical graduates are becoming enmeshed in the global New Economy in ways most people are only beginning to fathom.
According to Pulitzer-prize winner New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, new generation Indians employed in GE and other MNCs that grew up in post-economically liberalised India, are a new breed with a zip in their step. “They’re hungry, they’re energetic. They’re demanding of their government. “
Large Human Resource
Every year, approximately 19 million students are enrolled in high schools and 10 million students in pre-graduate degree courses across India. Moreover, 2.1 million graduates and 0.3 million post-graduates pass out of India’s non-engineering colleges.
While 2.5-3 percent of them find jobs in other fields or pursue further studies abroad, the rest opt for employment in the IT industry. Even at current rates, there will approximately be 17 million people available to the IT industry by 2008. Its hard to believe that 20 years ago, India had only 6,800 knowledge workers.
Indian Education System
The Indian education system places strong emphasis on mathematics and science, resulting in a large number of science and engineering graduates. Mastery over quantitative concepts coupled with English proficiency has resulted in a skill set that has enabled the country to take advantage of the current international demand for IT.
Quality Manpower
Indian programmers are known for their strong technical skills and their eagerness to accommodate clients. In some cases, clients outsource work to get access to more specialized engineering talent, particularly in the area of telecommunications. India also has one of the largest pools of English-speaking professionals.
Building Quality
Many companies realised that they have to build Quality systems and certify themselves, if they had to survive and compete on a global footing.
As of 31st March 2002, India had 42 companies at SEI CMM Level 5 assessment (source: Nasscom). The quality maturity of the Indian software industry can be measured from the fact that already 316 Indian software companies have acquired quality certifications and more companies are in pipeline to do so.
Quotable quotes
* “Not only are there brilliant engineers here [in India], I’ve been seeing that the entrepreneurial spirit of the businesses is second to none.” Mike S. Zafirovski President and Chief Operating Officer Motorola Inc.
* “India has evolved into one of the world’s leading technology centres.” Craig Barrett Chairman Intel Corporation
* “India has a fantastic pool of software professionals. The world needs to benefit from this.” Bill Gates Microsoft Chairman
* “India has natural and multiple advantages over countries like China or other Asian or Latin American countries that are emerging as outsourcing hub. In the recent past, Indian Inc has been able to establish its brand in the international market. Its extraordinary quality of human resource and domain knowledge clearly puts them in an advantageous position.” Bruce Chizen President & CEO Adobe Systems Inc, USA
* “India is not just about IT or business process outsourcing. We see it as an incubator for giant global corporations driven by IT strategy.” Prof Warren McFarlan Senior Associate Dean Harvard Business School
* “India, first of all, came to the game with some just natural advantages: one, English-speaking population; two, real emphasis on education. You also had a country that is very instinctively able to glocalize, take the best of the global world and meld it with their own culture.” Tom Friedman Columnist The New York Times
* “Toyota Motor has chosen to source from India due to its competitive cost of manufacture, availability of abundant engineering talent, and strong indigenous machine tool.” Akio Toyoda Senior Managing Director Toyota Motors
* “I believe India could be the fastest growing economy in the world one day. It would be foolish for Virgin not to embrace India.” Sir Richard Branson Chairman Virgin Atlantic Airways
Referance
IBEF
NASSCOM
About the author:
Sangeetha Naik heads Bobcares.com. She is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., Software and IT services company specializing in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 140 engineers.
Sangeetha is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of experience in the Hosting industry. Her articles have been published both online as well as in print.
I am very happy to read your blog with such encouraging views about india. it really huts me to read abusive and prejudiced views on various blogs about india by supaerficial kind of tourists who come here only to see negative things like poverty as if their country has no problems. they asssume an entirely material stance and criteron of their judgement. what to do about them? i wonder.