India has retained its numero uno position even as some other well-established outsourcing hubs dropped in their attractiveness to be replaced by new emerging destinations in AT Kearney’s latest ranking of the top outsourcing destinations across the globe. “The top three countries in the 2009 Global Services Location Index (GSLI) remain the same — India, China and Malaysia — but the world’s volatile economic environment is reflected in the rest of the rankings,” the consultancy pointed out. The study evaluates 50 top countries.

The economic meltdown and appreciation of the local currency against the dollar has taken its toll on Central and Eastern Europe, which were emerging as important offshoring hubs for Western Europe. Overall, nine countries dropped nine or more rankings in the attractiveness index. While the one-time rising stars such as Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary lost out, others in the Southeast Asia and Middle East scored. Egypt, Jordan and Vietnam made it to the top 10 rankings for the first time.

UAE, Tunisia and Morocco have also improved their standing, with the noteworthy trend being the Middle East and North Africa emerging as key offshoring regions given their large and educated population and proximity to Europe.

For more visit to link:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

“Infosys is looking at acquiring a small or mid-sized company, specialised in providing mortgage or insurance BPO services to grow faster in Canada. This will help speed up verticalisation efforts currently on at Infosys BPO. The mortgage sector in Canada has seen a number of promising start-ups, as well as established mid-sized companies coming up over the years. Infosys BPO is looking at further growth in the key mortgage and insurance verticals in Canada, where a strategic acquisition will boost the scope for higher knowledge work, like financial research and analytics,” sources said.

The BPO arm has a stated focus on transaction-based processing work, particularly in the F&A (finance & accounting) software space. Mortgage solutions have emerged as a key vertical for the BPO operations.

An Infosys BPO spokesperson declined to comment on any acquisition plans or time-frame for the deal. The company is presently in its self-imposed silent period as a run-up to announcing its first quarter financial results on July 10.

Infosys has said that it will increase its hiring in overseas markets, including the US and Canada. In the current fiscal, the company plans to hire about 1,000 people in overseas locations, including the US, which is more than double that of last year’s figure.

The company is not keen on making acquisitions in India, as it is capable of growing organically quite fast in the country. Chief Executive Officer S Gopalakrishnan had said at the company’s annual general meeting in Bangalore on June 21 that Infosys saw a requirement for acquisitions more outside India, where it faced challenges in adding employees.

To tackle pricing pressures from clients in the US and Canada, Infosys Technologies has been increasing its focus on new engagement models, such as platform-based BPO services, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Finacle to maximise the value delivered to its clients.

The BPO business of Infosys posted gross revenues of $316.2 million (Rs 1,520 crore) in the fiscal year to March 31, 2009 and employed 17,398 people at the end of the fiscal.

The BPO arm is presently recruiting from smaller towns like Mangalore and Mysore, as part of its focus on the domestic market and to capitalise on lower rentals and employee costs. It is also looking at tying up with rural BPO outfits to save on real estate costs. The company had last month set up a dedicated domestic market arm, with an eye on the $1.6-billion domestic BPO market.

Infosys Technologies, which had cash reserves of Rs 9,695 crore as on March 31, had made two successful acquisitions during its nearly three decades of existence. Earlier acquisitions were that of Australian firm Expert Information Technologies for close to $23 million in 2003, and the buyout of Philips’ global BPO operations in 2007.

Source for this :http://www.business-standard.com/india

While many business are yet to work out how best to take advantage of the bandwidth surge, one company is primed to ride the digital wave and steal a slice of India’s call-centre market.

Horizon Contact Centres sits on the edge of the traffic-choked road that links the capital Nairobi to the airport and the coast. On the other side of the highway sit the open plains of Nairobi National Park, where wealthy tourists watch the wildlife. Only a few kilometres away lies Kibera, one of Africa’s largest slums, where an estimated one million people live in shacks amid rivers of sewage.

The contrast between these faces of Africa and Horizon Contact Centres could not be more stark.The building is a glistening temple to technology, with biometric entry systems, an array of electronic backups designed to ensure 24-hour operation and chill-out zones for stressed staff.

Chief Executive Officer Dave Stewart persuaded a consortium of global investors to pump $6 million into the company, which he is convinced will open up a vital new income stream for Kenya.

Get More of this Article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

INDIA–National trade body Nasscom says the government has made good by fulfilling most of its pre-budget demands, but industry watchers and players are divided on whether the new budget is adequate.

India’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, unveiled the country’s budget in Parliament on Monday, which aims to revive economic growth back to 9 percent, from 6.7 percent between 2008 and 2009. To achieve this target, Mukherjee focused on lower taxes, higher personal income-tax exemption limits and the abolition of some taxes. These measures are expected to increase disposable incomes, thereby, spurring higher consumption.

Nasscom has welcomed the budget. Chairman Pramod Bhasin said in a statement: “Many of the initiatives in this year’s budget recognize the role the IT-BPO (business process outsourcing) industry can play in promoting inclusive growth, and creating substantial employment opportunities in the country.”

One key highlight, under section 10A and 10B of India’s Income Tax Act, marks the extension of the tax holiday established for the IT sector, allowing industry players to pay little or no taxes. Slated to expire Mar. 31, 2010, the tax holiday has been extended for another year.

Nasscom President Som Mittal said in a statement: “This step will help the industry mitigate the impact of the current economic environment and help India retain its competitiveness.”

Read More on to this Story : http://www.zdnetasia.com

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail has also discovered that Lloyds Banking Group has secretly outsourced work to India, and is so scared about its clients finding out that it has banned staff from telling them.

These are the two latest examples of how outsourcing and offshoring UK jobs has run out of control.

Companies relish the cost savings that cheap foreign labour brings, but heaven forbid they should be open with their customers about it.

Capgemini does a lot of work for HM Revenue & Customs on what is known as the Aspire contract at its Telford site in the Midlands.

But the government agency said it has a clause that stipulates all work must be done in the UK.

Capgemini declined to reveal how many foreign workers are employed on work for HMRC.

A spokesman said: ‘The contract further mandates Capgemini to deploy the best staff from across the globe to support delivery in the UK.’

HMRC said: ‘How Capgemini resource their business is up to them.’

This practice seems astonishing when unemployment tops 2.2m, and every day more skilled British workers are given their marching orders.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an increasing trend towards this kind of ‘outskilling’, where UK workers are being supplanted by cheap imports.

Offshoring used to mean sending fairly menial call centre and back office roles to Bangalore or Hyderabad in India.

But the tide is also now sweeping up skilled, higher-grade roles such as IT programming, software design, and human resources.

And there is no sign yet that the practice is about to stop any time soon.

A Capgemini insider said: ‘In the last few months there has been a massive influx of Indian workers.

‘These assignments usually last for a few years, then individuals will go back home only to be replaced by another Indian worker.’

The source also said Capgemini’s British contract workers were recently asked to take a 15pc wage cut, and were told the pay cut would be taken into account when contract renewals were offered.

‘It seems that most if not all contractors will be replaced by Indian staff in October anyway, regardless of whether they took a pay cut or not,’ the source added.

State-backed Lloyds Banking Group has also come under increasing pressure from unions to explain why it continues to outsource jobs when it is 43.4pc owned by the taxpayer.

This newspaper previously revealed that Lloyds (down 2.35p at 65.9p) is flying in hundreds of Indian IT workers to work on long-term projects in Britain, displacing domestic contractors.

But we have since learned that the so-called ‘Bank of Britain’ offshored its CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) operation to India last year.

This system helps the bank’s clients, ranging from large corporationsto local councils, transfer payment to their suppliers on the same day for a small fee of £25.

A former Lloyds employee told us the lender warned staff they were not to tell customers that these payments were now being processed from the subcontinent.

The source said: ‘We were under strict instructions not to tell customers that the work is being done offshore.

‘If the service Lloyds offers offshore is so good, why isn’t the bank telling people about it?’

A Lloyds spokesman said: ‘We use offshore resources to help process some payment requests and have been doing so since 2008.

The bank’s unions have urged the government to force Lloyds to bring the 4,500 jobs it currently has offshore, back to Britain.

A spokesman for UKFI, which manages the taxpayer’s stake in Lloyds, said: ‘We don’t engage in the commercial decision-making of the bank.’

One suspects these two examples are just the tip of a rather large iceberg that not only threatens the job security of thousands of expendable British workers, but the wider economy as well.

Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk