The recent spate of anti-outsourcing legislations proposed in the US, like Senator Schumer’s Bill to tax American companies that route customer calls overseas, will not impact business decisions related to offshoring, according to Forrester Research Vice-President and Principal Analyst, Mr John McCarthy.
“It makes for great political saber-rattling and promotion but we know that 90 per cent of legislations that get proposed go nowhere and even then it changes form dramatically between initiation and final version. Also, every time there is any legislation with any offshore language, it gets watered down at the eleventh hour and nothing really happens,” Mr McCarthy told Business Line.
His comments come at a time when the buzz around anti-outsourcing has been growing strong in the Capitol Hill. The House passed ‘American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act’ in May and a month later US Senator Charles Schumer announced plans to introduce a Bill that seeks to impose 25 cents excise tax on any customer service call that originates within the US and gets transferred to an overseas call centre. The proposed legislation, if it materialises, would require US companies to also notify their customers when their calls are handled by an overseas location.
Unveiling the broad contours of the Bill, Senator Schumer had said, “This Bill will not only serve to maintain call centre jobs currently in the US, but also provide a reason for companies that have already outsourced jobs, to bring them back.”
But Mr McCarthy downplays concerns over such legislations that are being mulled. “Talk to me about the Bill… Do not talk to me on what is being proposed… You have to be realistic…Do you think we will suddenly bring thousands of people back? ….. it is not a likely scenario,” says McCarthy.
“The dynamics here are not going to change, they are not going to shut it down they cannot shut it down. And the reality is that there is as much wage inflation in the US in the high tech sector as there is over here, and jobs have gone up despite the offshoring,” said McCarthy.
When contacted, the Nasscom President, Mr Som Mittal, felt that any move by the US to impose a levy on customer service calls routed overseas, would only increase costs for US firms and consumers.
Source:-http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/06/29/stories/2010062953240700.htm
