The Hindu Business Line : `US BPO Bill may not impact India'

THE US Government's legislation against business process outsourcing (BPO) by US companies may not affect India's BPO market, said the US Consul General in Chennai, Dr Richard D. Haynes.

``The US restrictions on BPO may largely be on issues relating to privacy and security and as such I do not think it may have any greater impact on general business process outsourcing activities,'' Mr Haynes said while addressing the members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

Responding to a query from a CII member on the interest rate trend in the US, Mr Haynes admitted that interest rate was rising and the private interest pepped by the bond market too was surging. ``I guess it is going to go up because the present interest had hit a historical low.''

Mr Haynes asked the trade and industry in Coimbatore to make use of the US Consulate's commercial office, which helped in setting up dialogue with US-based industries. The Consul General pointed out that basic infrastructure requirements such as power, water, roads and ports in India would assume greater importance in future and needed larger foreign investments.

Mr Haynes said that although the south Indian industries excelled in manufacturing and was acclaimed for `zero error' in production, they had to get the best technology from outside. The US, he said, pursued an open business policy and business interests would play a big role in investment decisions.

The US Consul General said the Chennai Consulate had issued 1.75 lakh general visas last year and he expected it to issue around 1.85 visas this year. Earlier, during the session chaired by Mr N. Krishna Samaraj, Chairman of CII, Coimbatore, Mr Sumanth Ramamurthi and Mr S. Ravi, convenors of the textiles and engineering panels respectively, made presentations on Coimbatore's textile sector and engineering industries.