The Hindu Business Line : `India must spend on education, R&D to emerge big in BPO area'

INDIA has to invest in education and research & development if the country were to realise its potential and emerge as a global leader in the business process outsourcing (BPO) space, according to Dr Ruby Roy Dholakia, Professor of Marketing and Electronic Commerce, College of Business Administration, Kingston, USA.

Addressing a workshop on `Unlocking the BPO potential: Emerging opportunities' organised here on Thursday by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Dr Dholakia said that despite rhetoric to the contrary in the US, pressure on costs will continue to force large and medium-sized companies there to outsource back-office functions to countries like India, which have English-speaking skilled manpower suitable for ITES companies. As such, the focus should be on knowledge skills, which can be created only through proper education.

Dr Dholakia said that, in future, companies would not outsource to ITES firms just for cost savings but also for adding value to their top line growth. The future would also witness outsourcing across diversified organisations even as creativity would emerge as a major issue.

According to her, India, by virtue of its English-speaking manpower base, has a distinct advantage over China in the global ITES arena. However, in the years ahead, "this disadvantage of China is going to disappear", she said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Debabrata Bhattacharya, Senior Consultant, Tata Consultancy Services, said India must gear up to face competition in the ITES space from countries such as China, Philippines and Ireland. He said that, at present, banks and financial institutions were driving 60-70 per cent of the global ITES revenues.