Offshoring as a Service

Currently I am reading Bangalore Tiger by Steve Hamm, a story on how Indien tech upstart Wipro is rewriting the rules of global competition. There are many thought provoking ideas and I feel inspired by this book.

Often I am asked why one should offshore to India? What is so “good” about India? I see the advantages and understand the challenges on both the sides – customer as well as the provider. I am “home blind” since I come from India thereby I quote from the book, The black book of outsourcing, Douglas Brown and Scott Wilson.

- India has the second-largest English speaking population in the world, after the United States.
- An educated workforce of more than 270 million workers.
- The outsourcing market in India, particularly for information technologies, has had time to mature and gain support from U.S. and U.K. businesses.
- India’s 1991 Statement on Industrial Policy facilitated foreign direct investment and technology transfer, thereby ushering in a new era with fewer of the regulatory burdens that had previously kept foreign firms from establishing business operations there. Since the policy reform, foreign direct investment in India has increased more than fiftyfold.
- IT is top governmental priorities. The Ministry of Information Technology, established in 1999, plans to accelerate the implementation of IT in government education and the private sector.
- More than 70,000 software engineers graduate annually from colleges.

As well as
- A growth rate of 8.0% (http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/whyindia.htm)
- Emerging middle class with a spending power which can be seen everywhere. India can be seen as a potential market. It is no longer local market within ones own country – it is a global market.
- Many companies with Capability Maturity Model Level 5.
- Etc.

The goal of a growing number of American and European companies is to outsource customer-service work to India, to take advantage of India’s low wages, thriving high-tech sector, and annual output of 2 million English-speaking college graduates. Of the 3.3 million white-collar service jobs estimated to be outsourced in 2015, more than half will go to India.
The black book of outsourcing, Douglas Brown and Scott Wilson.

Started reading “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts after seeing a documentary about him on the Swedish television.

I have just read around 180 pages and wish it was vacation time so that I can read it at a stretch. It is not just a novel for me, it is a book that makes me analyse and think. The author born in Australia found his haven in India and the way he describes his experiences makes me miss India even more. 

The author describes his journey by train which made me think about the countless train journeys that I have taken in India. Train journey in India is unique. When studying in Pune I and my friend Felicia travelled often by train to Solapur where our parents lived. Even though we could afford first class tickets, being 18 years old we spent the money on clothes and travelled third class. It is an adventure travelling in India and we loved it.

On one such journey, we were cramped in with many other travellers who even had live chickens with them. I happened to step on a lady sitting on the floor and out of habit said “sorry” in English. My mistake of course. I should have instead said, “mujhe maaf kar do” in Hindi or in Marathi, “mala maaf kar”. The lady got really upset with me. After chatting for a while with her we could at last make our peace.

We usually travelled late in the evening. The Indian sky is full of countless stars. The breeze is cooling after a sunny hot day and we both, Felicia and I, loved to sit on the steps of the moving train and chat away. Imagine doing that in Sweden.

Every summer my parents took us on vacation. They wanted us to learn more about India. It was always a ritual for us. Our mum cooked spicy mincemeat with chapattis. Even though there were heated discussions about people sitting on our reserved seats, once the train started moving and got some momentum, everyone opened their tiffins and shared food with each other. At the end of the long journey we had shared addresses and promises to meet again.

Now, when I travel in India by train, even the first class is not comfortable. What has happened to my adventurous spirit?