Niyamath Parveez

India has rightly built up a great and deserved reputation for being the premier location for outsourcing resources. The country has benefited greatly from the influx of so much work, which has created a cyclical effect in bringing further work and increasing the talent of the workforce in the country. As the possibility of further work continues, training and development of the population has risen which is why so many companies are very comfortable in allowing Indian companies to handle all of their outsourcing needs. However, many countries have seen the benefits that India has obtained by working in this manner and decided they would like some of this action as well.

This has seen many countries around the developing world try to imitate and replicate the success of India and its outsourcing work. One of the initial reasons why India was a success for outsourcing was due to the way they were able to undercut other nations. Price is always going to be an important factor for any business and being able to get work completed for a low price is of tremendous benefit. This has alerted many nations and companies to the fact that if they want to take work from India, they may need to undercut them. It is a tough market to operate in but the way that India achieved success in taking work from other nations will see other nations take work from India.

One recent example of India losing out on work they would have previously obtained has occurred in Egypt with the company at the heart of the situation being India. Wipro Technologies, even though they are based and located in the outsourcing capital of the world, has sent a great deal of work from its Indian office to its equivalent office in Egypt. Given that the company had office space and resources in Egypt maybe means that the situation is not as concerning as the initial headlines would suggest but the fact that this work is transferring out of India is clearly a news item. If a trend develops, India may need to reposition themselves with regards to the services they provide to customers around the world.

Even though Wipro has a presence in over 50 countries around the world, the percentage of the workforce who is based offshore is extremely small. That is why this announcement that the Egyptian workforce will be expanded has been met with surprise by a number of analysts and experts. It is reasonable to think that if one of India’s top firms can act in this manner, then others may follow suit.

Given that India is already under fire from other countries, which are growing under increasing pressure to keep more jobs in their own home land. Too many people are losing their job because of the current financial climate and outsourcing is seen as a scourge by many people. Of course, it is merely market forces working on a global scale but job losses are very emotive and people have a right to be angry at losing their job for price alone.