The Hindu Business Line : <I>LPO is the next big thing for India </I>

Legal process outsourcing (LPO) is emerging as a key vertical in knowledge-based services in India. It is the next big thing waiting to happen for India, said Mr N.T. Nair, Chief Editor, Executive Knowledge Lines, and Editor, IEEE India Info, at a technical talk hosted by the Institution of Engineers, Kerala State Centre.

According to market researcher Forrester, by 2010 India stands to receive as much as 60 per cent of around 40,000 legal jobs outsourced by US legal services, a $200-billion industry. Europe also boasts a counterpart industry just as big.

While fresh graduates in the US demand $250,000-300,000 a year, pedigreed Indian talent is available for as low as $6,000-15,000.

The International Technology Law Association (formerly Computer Law Association), a global body of IT law professionals, has predicted that a large number of Indian lawyers will get a chance to become global players.

They will interact with renowned legal professionals and handle trans-national business issues on behalf of multi-culture clients.

They will, thus, get suitably exposed to the legal frameworks of the US, the UK, Australia, and Europe.

The global knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) industry is expected to clock $17 billion by 2010, of which $12 billion would be outsourced to India. Compared to the current headcount of 25,000, the Indian KPO sector would, by then, need to employ around 2.5 lakh domain experts in science, engineering, law, accounting, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.

India is on a transition path from a being BPO destination to a potential KPO destination. The country could emerge as a global KPO hub leveraging on specialised knowledge pool available in niche verticals.

On what has led KPO to stream into India, Mr Nair said that though knowledge-intensive activities have traditionally been the monopoly of developed countries, global competition is putting pressure on them to be cost-effective.

Outsourcing of knowledge-based activities give them significant cost savings.

Also, they are increasingly forced to contend with a shortage of domain experts in their respective countries.

Last, but not the least, countries like India have demonstrated efficiency in operations through highly successful BPO activities over the past decade, earning the clients' confidence in the bargain.

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