When the Chinese came to India to set up power plants, the government rightly sought several guarantees. So, if some of our own markets seek similar guarantees from us, what is wrong? China earns more than $50 billion in exports, but have we heard any murmur about them in any of the markets they target,” Narayana Murthy asked the delegates.

For starters, they hire local talent to front-end their entry into a country. Indian industry too should be toeing their line in this regard, he said while underscoring that we should make every effort to ensure that we make ourselves less visible in the country we enter with our products and hire local talent to do the work instead.

Elaborating on why Indian outsourcing has raised of other countries in the recent past, the Infosys co-founder said the problem lies with our youngsters of the day who believe that career growth is achieved only through an H1B Visa and a Green Card and that life ultimately is made only if one settles in the United States.

“There are many ways an employee can serve the company and the senior management should inculcate this belief in their employees. Currently, they are scared of taking decisions of hiring local talent based on fears that it will create dissatisfaction among the Indian staff. We need to take bold decisions and hire local talent, else we may end up killing the industry itself,” he warned.

If you were to check out the ratio of Indian employees in any of our companies that sets up shop overseas, you will find that more than 70% of them are people of Indian origin. “Why wouldn’t the local people feel alienated by such a development. It is up to our companies to lure local talent, which of course is not an easy job given the need for better brand building for our companies,” he said.

Source:http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4504150

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