Outsourcing Storm Favors India
BANGALORE, India -- The pace of outsourcing work to India is picking up, in part because the controversy in the U.S. over the trend has publicized India's low costs and expertise.
In the high-technology hub of Bangalore, two to three Western companies are opening operations in the city every week, say officials at Software Technology Parks of India. More companies are turning to India to do everything from software development to back-office work.
Revenues for call-center businesses grew by 46% to nearly $4 billion, or about �3.3 billion, during the year ended March 31. And the number of workers in India's technology sector is projected to have jumped by 23% to more than 800,000 in the period, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies, or Nasscom, the Indian technology industry's trade body. Nasscom expects India's exports of software and services to jump more than 30% to $16 billion in the current year ending next March, about the same growth rate as last year.
UNDERSTANDING OUTSOURCING
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Many Indian and American executives say the U.S. criticism of outsourcing is generating important buzz for Indian technology companies, highlighting their low costs and expertise. "During the last six to nine months, we've received hundreds of millions of dollars of free advertising," said Vikram Talwar, chief executive officer of Exlservice Inc., a New York company that processes financial claims for U.S. banks and insurance companies in India.
Companies such as Accenture Ltd., Unisys Corp., Trilogy Inc. and Google Ltd. are significantly expanding back-office, call-center and research-and-development operations here.
Accenture is more than doubling its Indian work force to 10,000 people by the end of the year, the company said, dividing the staff between the Indian cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Bombay. Accenture officials say the workers will support the company's consulting business and its back-office operations and provide technical support to clients.
The company stresses, however, that most of the jobs in India are new, rather than headcount transfers from the U.S. or other countries. A spokesman said that even as it expands in India, Accenture plans to add 8,000 employees in the U.S. this year and 11,000 in Europe.
Recent reports in the U.S., too, have argued that the number of jobs being lost to new operations abroad is relatively small. A U.S. Labor Department survey released this month said 4,633 jobs were moved overseas in the first three months of this year. The number represents less than 2% of the total 239,361 layoffs for the quarter, the report said. Critics charged the report picked up only a fraction of the total number of jobs lost to outsourcing, and the issue could well remain contentious as the U.S. presidential campaign heats up this fall. But such findings -- combined with a pickup in job growth in the U.S. -- have in recent months blunted concerns in Washington to some degree.
Some of the concerns that could have derailed investment in Indian operations appear to be easing. In India, national elections in May brought to power the left-leaning Congress Party, initially raising fears that technology companies could face new taxes or regulations. But the party appointed an experienced economic manager as prime minister, and no such measures have been proposed. Executives now say that with the Indian technology industry building up so much critical mass, it is too lucrative for domestic politicians to stop.
There are signs that the outsourcing trend is broadening. U.S. companies continue to make up roughly 80% of the companies outsourcing work to India. But now, Chinese, Japanese and a number of European firms are opening offices in Bangalore and other cities. Companies like Chinese telecommunications-equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. and Switzerland's STMicroelectronics NV are using India's English-speaking engineers and designers to expand into new markets and create new products. And a growing roster of smaller companies are beginning to outsource work to India.
"Every company in the services sector now knows you have to have a low-cost delivery base," said Mukul Agrawal, the managing director for Unisys's Indian operations. "It's a competitive necessity...and India's the No. 1 destination."
Unisys' business is emblematic too of a wider trend: foreign companies establishing their own operations in India. For five years, the Blue Bell, Pa., software and consulting firm simply contracted with Indian firms to provide back-office support and software development.
Mr. Agrawal said that with the work done in India becoming increasingly complex, Unisys' clients now demand that the company directly oversee it. Unisys' own executives also have concluded that the company needs an Indian presence to protect intellectual property and other strategic assets.
Unisys opened its Bangalore offices in April and is planning to hire 1,000 Indian staff over the next 18 months, Mr. Agrawal said. The workers will focus on software development, financial-claims processing and providing online technical help for Unisys customers. The company plans eventually to hire another 1,000 workers.
While many Indian software firms started by offering basic software code-writing skills, they are now doing research and development for semiconductor makers like Intel Corp. and hardware producers like GE Medical Systems.
Geneva-based chip maker STMicroelectronics has had operations in India since 1987, but for the first years largely just used its Indian engineers for software development, the company said. Today, STMicroelectronics has 1,500 workers engaged in chip design and research for developing wireless technologies.
The company expects to increase its Indian staff to 3,000 during the next few years with its research center near New Delhi becoming a central cog in its global business model. STMicroeletronics' India offices have produced more than 100 patents in the past three years. "A lot [for the company] will depend on the results coming out of India," said Carmelo Papa, a corporate vice president.
The growth is presenting India with new challenges. Cities like Bangalore are facing choking traffic and other infrastructure bottlenecks as they make way for scores of new companies and workers. Even connectivity can be a problem, and mobile-phone networks are often jammed.
Indian executives also say their companies are under pressure from U.S. clients to ensure that they are providing data security and sufficiently skilled workers. India produces 300,000 engineers a year, and local colleges train millions of English-speaking graduates. But one in six call-center workers usually quits his or her job within one year, according to industry executives. Qualified staff are also susceptible to being poached by higher-paying rivals.
业界辩论如同免费广告 印度外包生意煞是红火
外国企业向印度外包业务的步伐正在日渐加快，这在一定程度上归因于美国各界对这种趋势的争论客观上使得印度劳动力成本低廉且富有专业技巧的事实更加为人所知。
据印度软件科技园(Software Technology Parks of India)的官员们介绍，在高科技中心班加罗尔，每周都会有两三家西方公司的新业务在此开张，越来越多的公司将从软件开发到企业后勤支持等工作外包给印度。
截至3月31日的财政年度，印度话务呼叫中心行业的收入增长了46%，达到近40亿美元。据印度科技行业协会──全国软件和服务公司协会(National Association of Software and Service Companies, 简称Nasscom)的数据，上一财年印度科技业的从业人数估计已增加23%，达到80万人以上。Nasscom预计，本财年印度的软件和服务出口将增长30%多，达到160亿美元，增幅与上一财年相当。
许多印度和美国公司的管理人士称，美国各界对业务外包的谴责反而给印度科技公司带来明显的促进，因为这些谴责同时也使印度劳动力的低成本和富于专业技巧更为人所知。位于纽约的Exlservice Inc.的首席执行长维克兰姆?塔尔沃(Vikram Talwar)表示，过去6-9个月，印度公司相当于享受了数亿美元的免费广告，许多他们从来都想不到的公司现在也开始采取外包了。Exlservice在印度为美国的一些银行和保险公司处理财务问题。
像埃森哲(Accenture)、优利系统(Unisys Corp., UIS)、Trilogy Inc.和Google Ltd.等公司正在大规模扩张在印度的后勤支持、话务中心和研发业务。
原名安盛咨询(Andersen Consulting)的埃森哲计划到今年年底把印度员工的总数增加了一倍多，达到10,000人，员工分布在印度的班加罗尔、海得拉巴德和孟买三个城市。埃森哲管理人士称，印度员工将为公司的咨询业务和后勤营运提供支持，并为公司客户提供技术支持。
但埃森哲强调，印度的这些职位大部分都是新设立的，并非是削减在美国或其他国家雇佣的员工、转为在印度雇人那么简单。一位发言人表示，即使是在印度员工队伍扩大的同时，埃森哲仍计划今年在美国增聘了8,000名员工，在欧洲增聘11,000名员工。
原本可能令投资印度者望而却步的一些隐忧现在看来已有所缓解。在印度5月份的大选中，左倾的国大党胜出，当时曾导致对科技公司可能会面临新的税收或法规的担忧。但国大党最后选定由一位精通经济管理的人士担任总理，而且迄今并未提出实施此类法规。企业界人士认为，印度科技业已建立了雄厚的基础，其所带来的丰厚利润令印度政界人士已难以停。
Exlservice的塔尔沃表示，他不认为，没有哪个政府会制定法规削弱科技行业的增长势头。
近期美国国内的报导也称，国内就业岗位向海外新业务的流失相对较小。美国劳工部(U.S. Labor Department)本月发布的调查显示，今年头3个月有4,633个就业岗位转移到了海外，还不到当季裁员总数239,361人的2%。批评人士认为，该报告仅选取了流失岗位总数的一小部分。随著美国总统大选日渐升温，这个问题将继续成为争议焦点。但考虑美国劳工部的这份调查结果，加上美国就业增长加快的事实，近月来华盛顿的担心有了一定程度的缓解。
与此同时，有迹象显示，外包趋势正在变得日益普遍。虽然在向印度公司外包业务的公司中，美国企业占到80%左右，但中国、日本和大量欧洲公司现在也开始在班加罗尔等印度城市开设办事处。像中国电信设备生产商华为技术有限公司(Huawei Technologies Co.,Ltd)和瑞士STMicroelectronics NV等公司正在借助英语娴熟的印度工程师和设计师们涉足新市场和开发新产品。越来越多的非“《财富》500强企业”(Fortune 500)的中小企业也开始将工作外包给印度。
优利系统印度业务的董事总经理莫库尔?阿格拉沃(Mukul Agrawal)表示，现在服务业的每家公司都知道必须具有低成本的基础，这是竞争必须的，而印度是首选之地。
优利系统的做法是外国公司自己在印度建立营运业务这一潮流的缩影。过去5年，这家位于宾夕法尼亚州布鲁贝尔的软件和咨询公司一直都在跟印度公司签署后勤支持和软件开发的协议。
但优利系统的印度业务董事总经理阿格拉沃表示，随著印度承担的外包工作日益复杂，优利系统的客户要求其进行直接的参与。与此同时，优利系统自己的管理人士也得出结论，公司需要在印度有自己的办事处，以保护知识产权和其他战略性资产。
优利系统4月份开设了班加罗尔办事处。阿格拉沃说，公司计划在18个月内聘用1,000名印度员工。这些员工将专注于软件开发及为优利系统的客户提供网上技术支援等。之后，公司计划逐步再聘用1,000名员工。
事实上，印度承担的外包工作的多样化也对这种外包趋势起到了推波助澜的作用。许多印度软件公司都是以提供基础的软件源代码编写服务起步，但现在已开始为像英特尔(Intel Corp.)这样的半导体生产商和诸如GE Medical Systems这样的设备生产商提供研发服务。
日内瓦的晶片制造商STMicroelectronics自1987年起就在印度开设了自己的办事处，最初几年里印度工程师主要是从事软件的开发，但如今STMicroelectronics在印度已有1,500名员工从事晶片设计和无线技术研究。
STMicroelectronics计划未来几年将印度的员工总数增至3,000人，其在新德里附近的研究中心将成为其全球商业模式的轴心。
STMicroeletronic印度办事处过去3年里研究开发了100项专利技术。公司副总裁帕帕(Carmelo Papa)称，公司将在很大程度上依赖于印度的业务。
就连呼叫中心业务的规模和综合程度也得到了提升。
在班加罗尔和纽约均有办事处的MphasiS Corp.称自己协助一家美国金融服务公司运营3个呼叫中心；但它没有透露这家美国金融服务公司的名字。据Mphasi介绍，西班牙语客户只要按一下按钮，就可以接通MphasiS设在墨西哥蒂华纳的呼叫中心。如果希望以英语对话，他们将被转接至MphasiS设在印度普内的呼叫中心。如欲得到更详细的信息，客户们的电话则将被转接至佛罗里达州坦帕的呼叫中心。
外包的迅速增长正在给印度带来新的挑战。随著大量新公司和就业人群的涌入，班加罗尔等城市都面临著交通拥挤和其他基础设施薄弱的问题。连手机网络也常常出现瘫痪的情况。
印度的企业管理人士也称，美国客户要求他们提供技能娴熟的工人，同时要确保数据的安全，因而使他们的压力日益加大。印度每年都会培养出30万名工程师，当地大学每年更是释出数以百万计的会说英语的毕业生。但据行业管理人士称，呼叫中心通常每6个员工中就有1个会在1年内辞职。好员工也很容易被竞争对手高价挖走。
MphasiS首席执行长Jerry Rao表示，目前外包潮达到了高峰，但至于其未来的方向谁也不敢妄言。
美国和印度的企业管理人士称，许多跨国公司也在寻求将其中国和印度的业务联系起来。将制造工作交给成本低廉的中国企业，而应用软件交由印度公司。高层管理人士以及一些技术人士则依然留在美国。
在已启用印度工程师的亚洲公司中，中国的华为就是一例。该公司班加罗尔办事处有700名员工，并称到2006年员工总数可能会增至2,000人。印度员工专职开发新的产品和系统设计，对华为向拉丁美洲、非洲和欧洲的扩张起到了一定的推动作用。
华为的印度业务主管袁子文(James Yuan)说，印度工程师最大的优势在于语言。他预计将有更多的中国企业与印度达成外包协议，或在印度开设办事处。他表示，近月来大约已有100个中国代表团来到印度，考察该国的高科技行业。
