India Is Beneficiary Of Call-Center Culture
While the debate over outsourcing U.S. and European jobs to India gathers political steam, life is getting better and better for the nouveau riche beneficiaries of the call-center culture here in this glitzy center of new consumerism.
Make no mistake: India is a country still facing enormous poverty among its one billion-plus inhabitants. But the New India has a fast-growing middle class of 250 million, many of them young and upwardly mobile who are moving from call centers to software-company campuses and into new professions in hot sectors such as media and entertainment.
The Indian economy is growing at 8% to 10% a year, more than five times the average growth rate of euro-zone countries, more than twice as fast as the U.S. and slightly faster than China. But even more striking than the numbers is a visit to Bombay. Here, and in New Delhi, India's army of affluent 20-something consumers are clad in designer jeans and watches, drive new cars, sip expensive imported wine and talk incessantly on their mobile handsets.
In the outsourcing debate, critics of the practice focus on job losses. Today the debate seems loudest in the U.S., amplified by a presidential race, with Republicans and Democrats fretting about jobs lost to India, China and other lower-wage countries.
It's a debate likely to start rising in volume as 10 largely Eastern and Central European nations that join the European Union on May 1 leverage their advantage of lower wages, drawing jobs away from Western European countries such as Germany and France. Get ready for an intra-European political debate on outsourcing in coming months.
But an equally compelling argument -- which could be made by India -- is that the new jobs in developing countries created by the outsourcing boom have expanded local markets for Western consumer goods, helping offset at least some of the Western job losses. Among the most popular imports to India these days: Italian fashion and European wines, jewelry and cosmetics.
There is no better example than mobile phones. Reliance Infocomm has become India's biggest operator in just 12 months, growing to six million subscribers by focusing on driving down the price so young Indians can buy a handset for $10 (�8). "There is no doubt that mobile phones are part of the 'feel-good factor' in India," says marketing chief Kaushik Roy, referring to a popular phrase among Indian marketers. "Having a mobile gives you a sense of accomplishment here in India." Reliance gets its handsets from companies such as Finland's Nokia Corp., which is certainly not complaining about the outsourcing issue.
The key to whether India's outscourcing boom is a temporary blip or a real stepladder to broader socio-economic advancement is the sustainability of the nation's economic growth rate. If the economy keeps growing at 8% to 10% for another five years, that could help create an even bigger middle class and more new professional-level jobs.
The speed of India's ascent has been breathtaking. Its transformation of the past decade could be compared with the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the U.S., which spanned a half century. It's possible all that could collapse just as quickly.
But no one should underestimate the potential of a nation of more than one billion people with a disciplined, hard-working and English-speaking urban work force. Its economy should be able to create a wide range of new jobs. It seems most likely that a rising economic tide will continue to rise rather than recede as today's free-spending young people move up in management at call centers or graduate to day jobs in information technology, communications and other fast-growing sectors that demand more education and sophisticated skill sets.
印度从"客服中心"文化中受益
正当美国和欧洲因职位外包给印度引发的政治纷争愈演愈烈之边，得益于客服中心(call-center)文化并迅速致富的印度人的生活却蒸蒸日上。一股新的消费主义潮流正在印度兴起。
有一点要弄清楚：印度10几亿人中仍有大量的贫困人口。但是印度一个规模为2.5亿人的中产阶级正迅速壮大，他们中许多人很年轻而且事业正走上坡路－－从客服中心转向软件公司以及媒体和娱乐等炙手可热的新行业。
印度经济年增长率在8%至10%之间，是欧盟区国家增长率的5倍多，是美国的两倍多，比中国还略高。如果你去一次孟买和新德里，你对印度的印象会比上面的数字更深刻。在新德里，20岁出头的有钱消费者身著时髦牛仔衣，手带名牌手表，驾驶著崭新的汽车，酌饮著昂贵的进口酒，拿著手机不停的高谈阔论。
在关于外包的争论中，批评人士将火力集中在职位的流失上。现在看来，美国的反对声音最大，尤其是随著总统大选的临近，共和党和民主党对职位流向印度、中国和其他低工资国家的争论达到了白热化的程度。
这场争论还有加剧之势－－将于5月1日加入欧盟的东欧和中欧10个国家拥有低工资优势，可能会吸引德国和法国等西欧国家的工作职位。未来几个月，欧洲内部可能也将爆发关于职位外包的争论。
但是还有另外一种声音不容忽视－－这一声音可能来自印度：那些获得外包职位的发展中国家创造的新职位扩大了当地市场对西方消费品的需求，至少帮助抵消了西方国家职位流失造成的一部分损失。当今印度最流行的进口商品是：意大利服饰、欧洲红酒、珠宝以及化妆品。
手机是一个最好的例子。Reliance Infocomm在短短12个月内其用户数量增长至600万人，成为印度最大的移动电话运营商，这家公司一直致力于降低手机的价格，现在印度的年轻人能以10美元的价格买到一部手机。该公司市场营销长Kaushik Roy说，"毫无疑问，手机是印度"酷"潮流的组成部分。在印度，拥有一部手机能给你一种成就感。""酷"成为印度营销人员中常用的一个术语。Reliance的手机来自于芬兰的诺基亚(Nokia Corp.)。诺基亚显然对外包问题没有任何抱怨。
印度外包带来的繁荣仅是昙花一现还是通向更全面经济发展的一个阶梯？这取决于印度经济能否持续增长。如果印度经济今后5年保持8%-10%的经济增长率，印度可能会产生一个更加庞大的中产阶级以及更多要求专业技能的新工作职位。
印度崛起的速度令人惊叹。印度在过去10年的转变可与欧洲和美国的工业革命相媲美，而后者经历了半个世纪的时间。印度所有这一切也有迅速崩塌的可能。 印度这个十几亿人口的国家拥有一个遵守规范、勤劳并且讲英语的城市劳工队伍，任何人都不应该低估这个国家的潜力。印度经济应该能够创造出各种各样的新工作。印度上升的经济势头很可能将持续而不是后退，因为当前大举消费的年轻人将升至客服中心管理层职位，或者毕业后到信息科技、通信及其他发展迅速的公司任职，这些公司需要受过更高教育以及掌握更复杂技能的人。
