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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 10 Less than a week after its former President stumped the industry with his contentious comments on an impending 2.5 lakh job losses, the Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI) has rushed into a fire-fighting mode, and clarified that the sector had no plans for job cuts.

Even the apex industry association, The Natioanl Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) reiterated that the industry will be a “net hirer” and that “fears of large-scale job losses are unfounded”.

In a volte-face of sorts, BPIAI projected a “positive outlook” for the BPO industry. In a statement issued here, Mr Deepak Ohlyan, newly-elected President of BPIAI and the Director – India Facilities, Dell International Services, said that Indian BPO industry has been growing and maturing and has established itself a major outsourcing hub.

He said that the sector had no plans for job cuts and that BPOs required more people to scale up their operations from multiple locations and to meet delivery requirements of new business.

“There is no need to panic as things will settle down. India offers huge talent pool and productive human resources. I agree that we are in a midst of a crisis, but at the same time we need to brainstorm the opportunities this crisis brings along,” he added.

Currently, the country’s share of the global offshore outsourcing market for software and back office services is more than 40 per cent.

The sector employs over seven lakh professionals.

Nasscom, meanwhile, stated that its research and interaction with member companies were not in support of the projections (made by Mr Sam Chopra, ex-President of BPIAI) on job losses. “Our detailed industry performance and forecast for FY09 will be released in the next fortnight.

However, on employment, the industry will continue to be a net hirer in FY09 as a direct corollary of industry growth and fears of large scale job losses at an industry level are unfounded,” Nasscom said.

Mr Vikram Talwar, Chairman of Nasscom’s BPO forum and Executive Chairman of EXL Services, said, “If anything, the pipeline of BPO companies is much stronger than before primarily due to the pressures on companies in the developed economies to cut costs and improve their efficiency.

We believe that the BPO industry will continue to grow in 2009 and will be a net hirer across its various lines of business.”

More Stories on : Human Resources | Outsourcing

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