Bundeep Singh Rangar, Chairman of IndusView and CEO of PremFina and Fineqia

India's Outsourcing Industry: An Uncertain Future?

2017-02-13T09:57:00.000+00:00

INDIA'S OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE?

Uncertainty has descended upon the $150-billion Indian outsourcing industry in anticipation of the protectionist regime under President Trump. Protectionism has been a popular election rhetoric across nations, and more so in recent times. And the voting masses seem to like it. Will Trump’s campaign cry for protectionism cross the boundaries of poetic drama and come alive as laws? There is no doubt that US being the largest consumer nation in the world, governments across the globe will keep a close watch on Trump’s policies. India will be no exception. The hot-button topic for India – ‘outsourcing’, has surfaced again and the impact of Trump’s announcements, be it restrictions on H-1B visas or penal taxes on US companies for outsourcing jobs, is being felt already in India. And this, coming during times when India's outsourcing industry has been experiencing a rough patch isn't an encouraging development. How hard will an avalanche of protectionist measures from the Trump regime hit India's outsourcing industry?

Neha Dewan And Ahmad Shariq Khan | February 2017 Issue | The Dollar Business

If there were any doubts as to whether President Donald Trump would be any different from presidential candidate Donald Trump, they were extinguished by his short but distinctly xenophobic inaugural speech on January 20, 2017. In front of the thousands who gathered for the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump thundered, "From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength... We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American."

Over the past many months, Trump has made it clear that protectionism is going to be at the front and centre of his foreign trade policy. Protectionism though is a road that has been traversed time and again. Back in 2004, President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry’s election campaigns were flush with aggressive debates on the age-old, raging issue – outsourcing of American jobs. Media reports back home in India notoriously went on as far to say that outsourcing had become the ‘swearword’ of the 2004 US election campaign. Democratic Presidential candidate Kerry’s election campaign had doggedly attacked Republican President Bush on outsourcing, attributing the flat US job market to such ‘wayward’ philosophies. Bush had devoutly defended job outsourcing to India during that time, emphatically stating that the solution to American job losses wasn’t to wall off the economy from the world through protectionist policies. But then, economics and public perception have a tendency to diverge. It is not easy for the average 'Joe' to make sense of the complex economics of outsourcing. And politics in US, it seems, has come a full circle. This time it is Republican President Donald Trump who has promised to apply brakes on outsourcing. And the way he has gone about declaring a 'national day of patriotism' as one of his first executive orders, it seems likely that even if Trump is unable to put a stop to the outsourcing juggernaut, put brakes he will.

70 year-old Donald Trump campaigned and got elected as the 45th President of United States of America.
He has pledged to take US on a more isolationist, protectionist path.
And from his inaugural speech it is apparent that these two elements will be at the forefront of his foreign policy strategies.

While this action of Trump has induced a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment among those who voted him to power, it has made business leaders across the globe wary of the repercussions world trade might face in future. And more so business that are highly dependent on US clientele. Well, not to say, a brake on outsourcing can cause serious damage to India's much-vaunted 'Services exports', which is much-dependent on outsourced business from US.

India & Outsourcing

India’s outsourcing industry which is pegged at $150 billion by broad estimates, has always garnered a lot of attention when it comes to Indo-US relationship. A 2016 NASSCOM report on Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector in India forecasts that India’s IT-BPM industry is poised to grow at 8% y-o-y in FY2017 – and will add $8-10 billion to the industry's annual turnover in FY2017. The report also suggests that India will continue to gain market share, across segments. For instance, India will account for 7% of global software and IT services and 56% of global sourcing by the end of FY2017.

While IT services segment currently constitute 56.59% of the overall IT-BPM industry, BPM, software and ER&D account for 22.63% and 20.78%, respectively. What's more? The IT-BPM industry accounts for a 45% share in India’s total services exports and contributes about 9.3% to India’s GDP. Overall, the industry is estimated to employ nearly 3.7 million people.

Incidentally, India’s IT-BPM services exports too have witnessed a remarkable growth over the last few years – exports of IT-BPM services from India have jumped 116% from $50 billion in FY2010 to $108 billion in FY2016. Interestingly, as per NASSCOM, India’s software services exports alone accounted for $61 billion worth of export revenues in FY2016, with a major chunk coming from the US market. In fact, Indian IT-BPM industry's dependence on US can be gauged from the fact that over 60% of its export revenues (equivalent to $108 billion) in FY2016 came from US.

Uncertain future

While the numbers remain impressive, the election of Donald Trump as President of US has shaken up India’s IT outsourcing industry. (And mind you, this has nothing to do with the fact that he is the only President of the country who took the oath of office after his 70th birthday! An old school Prez, you reckon?) His stance on H-1B visas and penal taxes on outsourcing is already causing IT majors like TCS, Wipro and Infosys to relook their hiring strategies. In fact, Infosys has gone on record to state that they will be hiring more employees for their US offices from American colleges in future, owing to the expected visa constraints.

But is there really a reason to worry? Do US politicians follow through with their campaign promises? A sneak peek into the past reveals that the outsourcing debate has been a popular, highly engaging (read: emotional) topic in all presidential campaigns. It was no less of a power play when former US President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney contested hammer and tongs in 2012 on the all-consuming outsourcing debate. Obama’s campaign managers cheekily even dubbed Romney as the “outsourcing-in-chief”, stating in no uncertain terms that tax breaks for companies shipping jobs abroad would soon be a thing of the past.

Even though Obama had promised voters that he would revamp the Federal Tax Code and categorically spoke on slowing the outflow of American jobs to other countries, he did not follow through. And not to say, the broad tax changes, as rallied and promised so earnestly during his campaign, did not see the light of the day!

Cut to the present. Newly elected US President Trump, in most of his election campaign speeches, went on nothing short of a rampage when it came to the same contentious topic. Playing a dramatically tough taskmaster, he has even proposed a border adjustment tax of 35% on US companies that outsource production to other countries in a bid to restore jobs in America.

How effective is that proposal? According to a study by Gita Gopinath (Professor of Economics at Harvard University), Emmanuel Farhi (Professor of Economics at Harvard University) and Oleg Itskhoki (Professor of Economics and international affairs at Princeton University), the effect of a US border-adjustment tax would not be neutral. An appreciating dollar would erode America’s net foreign-asset position, because an overwhelming 85% of its foreign liabilities are denominated in dollars, while around 70% of its foreign assets are denominated in a foreign currency. With US foreign assets amounting to 140% of its GDP, and its foreign liabilities amounting to 180% of GDP, a dollar appreciation of 20% would result in a capital loss equal to about 13% of GDP.

Considering the numbers, will Trump really be able to fulfill this tax promise? Perhaps. Trump has always been reluctant to go by the book, and his disrespect for traditional economics (and economists) has been apparent. Trump, possibly in a bid to counter the impact, has also proposed slashing corporate taxes from 35% to 15% towards meeting the same objective.

History has always been an intrigued spectator to such magniloquence during election campaigns that have sought to tighten the noose on outsourcing. And nervousness has always played a close ally among Indian counterparts to unveil the fate that surrounds this mysterious saga every time. Will this time be any different?

To put things in a relevant perspective, as per data by Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), US companies currently employ about 14 million workers in their overseas affiliates, primarily in IT-BPM, human resources and manufacturing industries. This is perceived to have a direct bearing on US unemployment statistics. For, the 14 million outsourced jobs are nearly double the 7.4 million unemployed in US. And that's what the argument is really all about!

So, are things really going to be hard this time for Indian IT companies as well as those in allied sectors? If need be, are Indian companies ready to take troubles head on? And more importantly, can US companies do without outsourcing services to India?

Arup Roy, Research Director at Gartner, says that if Trump’s announcements ring in true, the Indian outsourcing industry will surely face some difficulties going forward, but then only temporarily. “Outsourcing is an inevitable need for companies in US – it is not a want, it is a need. There is a serious lack of skilled IT resources in US, so they have to rely on external resources. Ultimately, economics will rule over popular politics,” he tells The Dollar Business without a flicker of doubt in his voice.

The Visa conundrum

Among many of Trump’s proposals, the crackdown on H-1B visas seems imminent. The said visa has for long been under the scanner, with Trump now keen on limiting its issuance and usage, and pulling out all stops to restrict immigration. “I know the H-1B very well. We shouldn’t have it. It’s very, very bad for workers. It’s unfair to our workers and we should end it,” he had said during one of his campaign speeches, tugging at the heartstrings of American voters.Essentially, H-1B is a temporary, non-immigrant visa which allows the employment of highly-skilled foreign workers in a scenario where it is tough to get qualified domestic workers. Currently, it is capped at 85,000 visas a year (65,000 for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption) with scientists, engineers and computer programmers falling in its usual ambit of such issuances.

During his election campaign, Trump vehemently brought up the issue of visas on various occasions in an attacking manner that has been no less than scathing. “The H-1B programme is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labour programme, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration programme. No exceptions,” Trump had said.

"About 2.8 million positions are vacant in us due to the shortage of talent"

And then there is the proposed legislation – the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act, which looks at raising the emolument of H1-B visa holders from $60,000 to $100,000 annually. The proposed Act has been drafted to ensure that the visas are given to high wage earners, in essence then targeting outsourcing companies which rely on lower wage foreign workers to replace qualified US workers, as stated by Senators Bill Nelson of the Democratic Party and Jeff Sessions of the Republican Party while introducing the legislation in the Senate. The legislation also proposes reducing the number of popular H-1B visas by 15,000 annually, with such visas being granted to the highest wage earner first.

Amol Pomane, Chief Growth Officer, IBN Technologies, explains that Trump plans to increase the minimum wage for an H-1B visa holder to $100,000, with an aim to ensure wage parity in US. Pomane feels that this move is more positive in intent than limiting. “Thanks to the decision, an American and an immigrant candidate will now get equal opportunities to compete. Otherwise, immigrants are very happy to get half of what an American worker gets. Such restrictions will also motivate companies to innovate. From an economic point of view, it’s bad. But if you look at the bigger picture, it is a blessing in disguise,” he says.

Ranjeet Mahtani, Partner, Economic Laws Practice (ELP), a law firm headquartered in Mumbai, holds a similar view and believes that at the outset, it appears that the increase in minimum wages will improve the salary standards for H1-B visa holders in USA. However, he cautions that the flip side is that such an increase may lead to higher costs for Indian firms, especially in the IT industry, which are among the top sponsors of the temporary work visa.

The big STEM debate

Industry experts have their apprehensions when it comes to the stern stance adopted for H-1B visas. Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President, NASSCOM, says the impact of this move – if it comes by – will decidedly and expectedly hurt the movement of highly trained talent from India to US. In addition, it will have an adverse impact on the profitability of US businesses.

She draws attention to the fact that in the last four years, the Indian IT sector has created 411,000 jobs in US and contributed around $20 billion in local taxes apart from investing billions of dollars in the country. “The increasing demand for software engineers in US from countries like India is mainly due to the shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates in the US market. About 2.8 million positions in US are currently lying vacant due to the shortage of such graduates. This clearly shows that the US education system is not producing enough STEM-capable students to keep up with demand, both in traditional STEM occupations and other sectors across the economy that demand similar competencies,” asserts Gupta.

N. V. Srinivasan, National President, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce is assertive in his standpoint when he says, with utmost belief, that outsourcing will not be affected. “For all American companies, costing is a major factor and outsourcing helps reduce the costs. During Obama’s time also, a law was passed in Texas and New Jersey which said that there should be no outsourcing. But outsourcing has been taking place, unperturbed by such developments. You can make a political statement but practically, for business, there will be no impact,” he assures.

In the last four years, the Indian IT sector has created 411,000 jobs in US and
contributed around $20 billion in local taxes apart from investing billions of dollars in the country.

Vaibhav Gupta, Engagement Lead at IT Tech consulting firm Zinnov adds a further spin to this by putting it all in context. He highlights that in CY2015, around 61% of the 357,857 H-1B petitions filed and 70% of the 65,000 (general category cap) H-1B visas issued originated from India. “The Indian industry can take solace from the fact that US cannot take any drastic measures against outsourcing and immigration owing to the increasing shortfall of skilled labour within US. Currently there is a demand-supply gap of around 3.5 million STEM graduates in US. This shortfall is offset by the immigrant graduates who are more likely to obtain higher degrees in STEM subjects than US borns,” he says with a straight-face.

Of barriers & walls

Other than the H-1B visa move, the package being discussed to improve the US economy includes two key components – slashing the corporate tax rate from the current 35% to as much as 15% and the implementation of a ‘border-adjustment’ tax of 35% which would treat domestically purchased inputs and imported inputs differently, and encourage exports. This tax would be typical of a value added tax (VAT) regime wherein corporations will be unable to deduct the costs of imported inputs from their taxable income and at the same time, their export sales revenue will not be taxed. The purpose primarily is to give a leg up to US manufacturing.

"2.8 million positions in US are vacant due to the shortage of stem graduates."

However, the US industry hasn’t particularly been gung-ho about the anticipated measures that could come by. Retailers, for instance, are of the view that this would make their tax bills soar and will lead to a spurt in prices since they depend majorly on imported goods.

Interestingly, the border adjustment tax mechanism is expected to generate about $1 trillion in revenues in over a decade. Republicans say that this plan would eventually offer perks to companies to move jobs and production back to US and do away with foreign corporate income taxes.

Experts are of the view that such unilateral decisions will harm global inter-linkages. “The Wall Street is driven by Japanese and Chinese investments. There is also a large presence of Japanese and Chinese companies in the real estate sector in US. European companies too have significant presence in US, creating a large number of gainful employments. Indian presence in manufacturing and services is also expanding. In fact, Chinese and Indian students sustain many universities and educational institutions in US. US exports of technology and FMCG to destinations like Brazil, Mexico and India, etc. are huge and diverse. In the given situation, I don’t think any country can take a unilateral decision and stand by it,” says D. K. Sareen, Executive Director, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) candidly.

India currently is the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world,
with over 4,750 firms, witnessing a growth of 10-12% annually.

Others are also sceptical about objectives (as outlined by Trump) meeting the purpose (that he has set out to accomplish as President). For instance, Bundeep Singh Rangar, Chairman, IndusView UK, believes that though lowering of corporate tax is a positive development from the government’s point of view, there are other aspects to it as well. “Trump is of the view that the reduction in tax collection will be offset by higher GDP growth of 3-5%. Hence, he is hoping that despite lower tax rate, the absolute value of tax collection would be higher. Also, at the same time he is focussing on investing in homeland security and a border wall. However, a combination of such increased spending and lower taxes could create a mismatch,” adds Rangar.

The Heat was on

If one pays attention to the IT sector, a lot may be in store in times to come for India, and not necessarily in a positive way. For starters, IT revenues may contract 3% y-o-y this fiscal (as confirmed by industry watchdogs). After a rather dismal FY2016, Indian IT companies are expected to face a ‘not so great’ year again. Sample this: Last year, Infosys had to axe 3,000 jobs after a contract from the Royal Bank of Scotland went kaput post the Brexit referendum.

Similar was the story with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that changed its business model and aligned itself more with software platforms and digital networks. Cognizant too has seen its growth targets take a beating in the past one year. And now with the threat of Trump's new policies, it may be a bit of a double whammy as far as the IT sector is concerned. “It’s an issue for them, of course. Tighter visa rules will pose a big challenge to Indian IT companies like TCS, Infosys, etc. Not only that, asthe cost would increase, potential clients may also reconsider contracts involving substantial losses of American jobs. But the general consensus is that Trump can’t turn economics on its head. Services will move to those places where the resources are cheaper – if India is not an option, then somewhere else,” says Rangar.

Interestingly, while China scores high as the most significant destination for offshoring manufacturing, India rules the chart as far as services are concerned.

President Donald Trump will face diffculties in balancing the budget if he
does cut corporate tax rate by 20% as promised during his election campaign.

India’s position as the leading outsourcing destination for services is due to some unquestionable dynamics at play. For instance, India has the highest volume of diverse, employable talent – the country currently boast of over six million graduates, with over 3.7 million being a part of the IT-BPM industry in FY2016. Besides this, India is also the world’s fastest growing ‘digital hub.’ The number of digitally-skilled workers touches 250,000, with 90,000 in analytics and 70,000 each in mobility, cloud and social media. Moreover, a digital environment also forms the core of innovation in today's world.

"India's it industry has already seen some turbulence after the Brexit referendum"

Having said that, if India really wants to counter such threats of stringent visa regimes and penal taxes in the future, it needs to follow a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, it needs to focus on product innovation by leveraging the world's third-largest base of more than 4,200 start ups. Secondly, the industry needs to look at new business models and differentiated pricing strategy based on business innovation. Process innovation – that encompasses business process alignment and technology advancement which are prerequisites for going up the value chain – is the need of the hour. And lastly but most importantly, the industry needs to cultivate new markets.

Numbers don't lie

While we take small steps to move up the global services value chain, let's do a cost-benefit analysis between paying a 35% tax (and continuing to outsourcing services to India) and hiring local talent in US. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that taking a conservative dollar to rupee PPP conversion ratio of 17, a BPO worker in India is generally paid around 20-35% of the salary that a similar worker in US is paid. Simply stated, though a 35% penal tax will definitely hit bottomlines of Indian companies, it will still not make business sense to hire US workers to do the job locally. Hence, the math is clear – even with a 35% border tax, Trump will not be able to fulfill his promise of bringing back jobs to US.

However, it would be grossly wrong and inadequate to say that only the BPO sector is linked to outsourcing, though that is a popular perception since it accounts for the largest chunk of the pie. Sectors such as legal process outsourcing (LPO), medical transcription (MT) and content outsourcing too have being witnessing an upward shift in revenue shares over the last few years.

In fact, a study by NASSCOM and CRISIL states that the Indian LPO industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30%, up from $1.5 billion in FY2014 to $10 billion in FY2022. Interestingly, Dilpreet Singh Sidhu, CEO, Mind Merchants, a Gurgaon-based legal process outsourcing company with centres in London, San Francisco and Singapore, sees a silver lining in the entire Trump rhetoric. “The industry has been on a steady growth path for the last few years and now with Donald Trump becoming US President things might get even better. He is stopping immigration, stopping immigrants from entering US. So, when there will not be enough skilled labour in US, which was being supplied by India and other countries, ideally you would bring the people in or outsource the work. So, the mathematics is pretty obvious,” says Sidhu.

While the BPO sector dominates the outsourcing services exports, other sectors like legal process
outsourcing (LPO) and medical transcription are also growing at a rapid pace.

Rajat Singhania, CEO, BVS Trans Tech, a company that offers medical, legal and general transcription services and primarily caters to the US market, too seems unperturbed by the current situation. “Transcription comes under IT-enabled services. In fact, outside United States, India and Philippines are the only centres dealing in large volumes. The point is that America talks about a free economy, growing at a rapid clip. And if they take such a step they would be deviating from the policies they propagate. It will not be in their long-term global business interest to take such a decision." True it is, all politicians across the world make a lot of claims when they want to get elected, but how many of those actually end up fulfilling their promises once they get elected?

"India's services exports are highly dependent on the north American markets"

While insiders from these two sectors feel that they will face less heat, the math suggests that since salaries in these sectors are higher than in traditional BPOs in India, a high tax on outsourcing may negate the cost advantage that these sectors today enjoy vis-à-vis similar set-ups in US. What will work in favour of these companies though is the lack of skilled resource in US.

Although the rationale behind outsourcing remains undisturbed, there are reasons to worry. Scaremongering and abrupt, unilateral decisions on part of the US government are likely to have a negative impact on foreign investor sentiments around the world. India will be affected too. It is likely that India's outsourcing industry will receive less FDI this year, with investors delaying decisions till the time there is clarity on the policy front.
In fact, when it comes to FDI inflows into India's services sector (the biggest recipient of FDI till date) there are other reasons to worry about. Lowering of corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, as proposed by Trump, will make US an attractive destination for investors. The fallout may be a lower FDI into India as well as FIIs fleeing India.

Donald Trump has threatened automobile companies like Ford, GM, Ford Motor Company,
Toyota, Nissan, etc., that plan to invest in manufacturing centres in Mexico with a penal tax.

Ominous Signs

The scaremongering has already had its casualties. For instance, US auto majors have been on their toes after Trump left no stone unturned in making his displeasure known about the way they did business. In fact, he has gone all out in his criticism for the auto majors saying that they manufacture abroad which in turn acts as a threat to job creation in US.

Not surprisingly, American automakers Ford, Chrysler and General Motors Company and even Japanese carmakers have already taken the flak from an angry Trump for their overwhelming presence in Mexico.

Trump did not mince words in any way when he called Ford "horrible" for its plans of moving all small-car production to Mexico within a span of three years. Trump has repeatedly been saying that Ford will be among the companies subject to a possible 35% tariff on products that it is manufacturing in Mexico and exporting to US. Result: Ford has dropped its plan to set up a new $1.6-billion factory in San Luis Potosi in Mexico and has re-directed some of the funds to a US factory in Michigan for developing a new line of electric and autonomous vehicles.

GM too faced fire. Trump said that the car-maker should start preparing itself for paying a border tax for importing the compact Chevrolet Cruze to US from Mexico.

Indian and Chinese students make for over 42% of fee-paying
foreign students in US colleges and universities.

Even Japanese automotive giant Toyota isn’t being spared of the border tax threat for importing Mexico-made cars into US. However, it will be Nissan, Japan’s second-largest automaker, that will face the maximum brunt of the border tax, if at all it's implemented. Vehicles made in Mexico comprise about one-fourth of Nissan’s total US vehicle sales. What remains to be seen is whether the 35% penalty tax on cars made in Mexico will actually make a difference as far as creation of jobs in US is concerned.

"Under fire from trump, ford has dropped its plan to set up a new factory in Mexico"

When it comes to India, the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) believes that "US has a significant demand for auto components that cannot be eliminated overnight. The rising demand can only be effectively met by sourcing components from numerous suppliers based out of Asia Pacific region, including India. Hence, for now, the status quo remains." That may be so, but it also signals an ominous threat to India's outsourcing industry – chances are high that we might see some US-headqurtered outsourcing gaints taking reacting to Trump's shout in a manner as US automakers have.

Tempered Reactions

The key question that logically needs to be addressed is – "What counter strategies are Indian companies expected to resort to during these trying times?"

Rajiv Khanna, former President of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, puts it aptly when he says, “Outsourcing is as old as Adam Smith. You can’t turn economics on its head. Services will move where they are cheaper.” Rangar of IndusView UK holds similar views. "The reality is that the world has become a lot more interconnected than before. Almost everything we consume – from clothes to software – is produced in places that offer cost and skill efficient options. Therefore, while the rhetoric on tariffs is a potent tool for winning an election, the reality is that a less efficient and costlier US manufacturing base will make its products non-competitive in the international marketplace – a scenario which American multinationals are bound to resist," says Rangar.

Further, US companies hire from India or other countries because they don’t find enough qualified candidates within US to fill in the vacant positions. Data from the US Labour Department directs attention to an acute shortage of talented and skilled professionals in STEM domain. In fact, as many as 2.4 million STEM jobs in US are expected to remain vacant till 2018. Hence, the only option left with US companies (and will be in the near future) is to import (allow) talent from where they can find.

According to New York-based Institute of International Education, 274,439 Chinese students found their way into American colleges and universities in FY2014, the maximum (i.e. 31% of the total international students) from any country. While 28% among these pursued business and management, 20% took up engineering, followed by other subjects. Not surprisingly, India stood at second position with 102,673 Indians getting through American universities. While about 38% of them took up engineering, 26% pursued maths and computer science. South Korea was third in line with 68,047 students, of which 17% took up business and management followed by engineering and applied arts. The inclination of Indians towards the STEM domain is clearly shown in these numbers. And not surprisingly, Indians grabbed the majority share of the 20,000 specailised H-1B visas issued by the US government last year.

However, this is not to say that Indian companies should sit back and relax. Diversifying to markets beyond US could be a key strategy that could lift the market at this time. Roy of Gartner feels that companies need to wait and watch as far as US is concerned. “Meanwhile, Indian companies can consider ramping up services in onshore centres – this will make them more compliant to a protectionist regime, if it comes to that. Besides this, they need to diversify and start looking at markets other than US,” he adds.

Lowering of corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, as proposed by Trump, will make US an attractive
destination for investors. The fallout may be a lower FDI into India as well as FIIs fleeing India.

Gupta of Zinnov Consulting too believes that Indian IT companies’ innate dependency on North America for business will push them to find newer ways to sustain their businesses and meet talent requirements amidst speculations about a stricter visa regime. Recruiting more locally and using sub-contractors is one such way to sustain their talent requirements. Therefore, IT companies need to be overcautious about their policies and readiness towards sub-contracting and hiring locally. It will also lead to a rise in costs for Indian IT companies, but in all probability these additional costs such as legal complexities and hiring attorneys will be passed on to US enterprises. And then, as the cliché goes – necessity is the mother of invention – newer approaches and business models will see the light of the day and help the industry.

What next?

What will be more difficult to deal with is 'black swan' events. And Trump seems to be the master of 'black swans'. He has apparently called Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan a "terrific guy" and Pakistan a "fantastic country". His admiration for Russian President Putin has hogged the limelight. [In fact, FBI, CIA, NSA and the Treasury Department are investigating an alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections that apparently benefitted Trump.] Will US, Russia and Pakistan mark a new axis in foreign policy? If that happens, that could hurt India's trade. While the outsourcing industry in Pakistan is miniscule, if Trump bonds with Sharif, that may change.

Interestingly, on his first Monday as the President, Trump with the stroke of a pen, announced the withdrawal of US from his predecessor’s signature trade deal, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While America formally withdrawing from the TPP does not mean that TPP is dead, it does signal that the days of America leading from the front in setting global trade agenda are coming to an end. With this executive order Trump has also demonstrated that he is willing to follow through on his campaign promises when it comes to his ‘America First’ trade policy.

Though it is hard to see how US will benefit by shying away from large trade deals in the long run, in the short term it does give India and China some respite. India specifically was worried about losing ground to competitors like Vietnam and Malaysia in terms of access to the US market. But the long-term ramifications of America’s withdrawal are many, two of which could be the emergence of China as the forever leader of world trade, and the new-found lack of urgency of ratifying RCEP. Both these possible outcomes do not bode well for India.

Meanwhile, if Trump does put up stringent H-1B norms and a border tax, the IT industry in India is sure to face a temporary set back, till such time that businesses find ways to circumvent the tax. And find they will, for the sake of their and US' financial well being. True it is that the word ‘outsourcing’ is largely misunderstood. In a globalised world, no country can strike a sustainable growth path on its own forever. The US growth strategy hinged on protectionism will be sustainable only when other countries grow to provide markets for its growth.

But the maverick mania so synonymous with Donald Trump has gripped the US administration. And the status quo will stay for some time. We will have to wait for the frenzy to end and economics and rationality to take over. India's outsourcing industry will have to too, for there appears a long, silent night ahead. [Ed's note: Trump has already signed an order directing the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border. In no time, he has taken steps to fulfill two of his campaign promises that not too long ago, sounded absurd! For sure, this 70-year-old is capable of unbelievable decision-making. And most Americans, like 'I-hate-economics' teenagers seem to be ROFL!]

“US IS NOT GOING TO BE A CLOSED-DOOR ECONOMY”

Shalabh Kumar, President, Republican Hindu Coalition and a close aide of Donald Trump

Interview by Anishaa Kumar

TDB: How do you see the future India-US trade relationship under the Trump administration?

Shalabh Kumar (SK): Under Obama administration, over the last two years, India-US trade declined from $120 billion a year to $100 billion a year. I am confident that under President Trump’s administration India-US bilateral trade will grow to $300 billion a year by the end of the first term and will be on a trajectory to reach $1 trillion a year by the second term. I expect the trade to grow exponentially by the end of the second term because a lot of legislative actions will take place and a lot of the initial inertias will be over by then. Under President Obama, there were many artificial barriers which will not be the case under this regime.

TDB: There have been talks about restricting H-1B visas which is expected to hit Indian IT businesses. Your take?

SK: There will be two things that will be happening with H-1B visa holders. First, there are approximately 1.5 million H-1B visa holders in US who due to current law may have to wait for many years to get a Green Card. They are very highly educated and skilled workers, some of them have PhDs. That waiting period will reduce. With respect to new H-1B visas, the current number of visas in the current legislation will not change in a year or so. We may not have enough bandwidth to get into regulatory reforms in H-1B visa programmes in the first year of the Trump presidency. Subsequently, what happens is speculative. My estimate is that the limit on H-1B visas is going to increase because the GDP will grow very fast, possibly at a rate of 4-5%. With so many new jobs being created, there will be a need for IT workers.

TDB: There are reports that companies will be fined for hiring foreign workers instead of Americans. Is this something just being discussed for the manufacturing sector?

SK: No, there is no such legislation. The current law (Equal Opportunity Employment) will continue. But, if there is any fraud in the system, the law will be enforced with more stringency.

TDB: You have said that US will be one of India’s closest friends. With so many anticipated conflicts with regards to hiring and outsourcing, how will we grow closer?

SK: There may be some problems but I don’t see a conflict. President Reagan had said, "a rising tide will raise all boats". If there is serious economic growth in US and economic growth in India, there will be increase in trade and jobs and the conflicts or problems will be eased. The relationship will be beneficial for both. In his inauguration speech, President Trump had mentioned his new doctrine that each country should think of its own citizens; US must think of its own, India must think of its own. But that does not mean that there is a conflict. In the larger scheme of things, and in terms of defence, the alignment between US and India will be good for the world. It will be a good position to adopt to counter the aggressive posturing by China, which in a way is being also followed by Pakistan.

TDB: There is a notion that US will reduce or stop its trade with the rest of the world. Is this a premature, false notion?

SK: President Trump is not a Kamikaze! Why would you commit suicide? He is a businessman. If there are factors that will cause harm to the American economy, he is going to fight it.

TDB: Is there place for both 'Made in America' and 'Make in India' to work together?

SK: I think they are very compatible. Both have a stake in increasing trade. For example, India will be able to import the advanced systems from US which India has been wanting to. Previous US laws prevented India from importing these systems. India will also be able to create new jobs in the defence sector for building value-added components for these weapons.

TDB: President Trump has talked about reducing corporate taxes in US. Will that not mean a reduction in FDI inflow to countries like India?

SK: Right now, US has one of the highest tax rates in the civilised world. It will now come down to 18% or 15%. That is going to make America a very attractive destination for foreign investment. Capital will flow in and be invested in United States and the dollar value is going to rise. This will help the GDP owing to capital formation in US. This may have a short-term impact on capital investments in India, but will definitely not have a long-term impact on the bilateral trade between the two countries. When you have increased trade, you will have an increase in investment by US companies in India.

TDB: If you were addressing the members of the Indian services industry on the future of US-India business relations, what would you like to say?

SK: The Indian services industry should not have any fear. There will be a huge infrastructure programme and the US government will be more efficient, and the country's economy will grow at a much faster rate. Services are going to be needed. US is not going to be a closed-border economy. Service companies in India should look forward to increasing business with the US companies.

“NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IS LIKELY IN THE APPROACH OF US COMPANIES”

Rohitash Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, eClerx

Interview by Niladri S Nath

TDB: How do you view US President Donald Trump’s big promise of bringing jobs back to US?

Rohitash Gupta (RG): Most people in the industry believe that it was an election rhetoric and will get diluted or changed during the time of implementation. Skilled labour in certain sectors, particularly the technology services, is scarce in US and hence a blanket statement of getting all such jobs back to US is not practical. Further, it is interesting to note that merely 2% of the workforce in US is in the IT-related areas. Being the businessman that he is, the general belief is that Trump may create incentives for US companies to remain and grow in the country and not impose excessive disincentives for companies who choose not to.

TDB: How are the companies in US reading the situation?

RG: The irony is that companies in sectors such as banking, which are heavily regulated and have got government funding post 2007, are the biggest outsourcers of IT and business process management (BPM) work. It was considered necessary by them to take support of specialist firms to build systems that would support new 'costly' regulations imposed on them while keeping the cost of operations under control.
The other irony is that the debate of the future may not be about keeping jobs within the country or offshore. It would be on whether humans or machines are best suited for a particular role. In a nutshell, no significant change is likely in the approach of large US companies until the new administration settles in and drafts new laws.

TDB: What kind of impact is the industry expecting?

RG: On the negatives side, delay in decision making by large US companies, as they wait for law changes, is the worst possible impact as it can slow down new business momentum. A higher mix of onshore hiring may reduce the percentage margin of Indian IT industry but may not impact the earnings in the medium term as onshore work generates higher revenue.

Actually, the industry sees more positives in the long run because such disruptions and artificial barriers accelerate innovation and pace of automation and artificial intelligence which may finally defeat the argument based on any artificial barriers. We have seen this in almost all regulated businesses, right from banking (Blockchain and Fintech), entertainment (YouTube), transportation (Uber), accommodation (Airbnb) to News (Google, Twitter). So, one can hope that most businesses and services will evolve with self-regulated, boundary-less models and the relevance of ‘state’ may decrease and technology will lead the way towards that outcome.

TDB: How much has such scaremongering impacted industry’s outlook and sentiment?

RG: A few US companies have been adopting a wait and watch attitude before signing off on budgets for any new ‘outsourcing’ programmes. As a result, revenue growth at IT service companies has been slower and it is believed that this may continue for the next two quarters till a clarity on the new administration's policies emerges. From an investor’s perspective, while IT continues to be an allocation on most fund manager’s portfolio, any new investments are being put on hold.

TDB: Will BPOs and KPOs try to attract projects from other developed countries?

RG: A number of companies already have a reasonable presence in Europe, although the rate of adoption of outsourcing is not as high as US. For, Europe has been late a adopter of outsourcing and there is the language barrier. This apart, a number of Indian companies have also been hiring locally in Europe rather than using expats. Finally, policy changes in US may not be the only or main reason for slower growth of industry this year and for similar muted industry projections for near future. The more significant impact is due to technological advancement itself as providers shift their models from full-time equivalent (FTE) based services to technology and outcome based solutions in the digital world. An example of this is the introduction of robotics process automation (RPA). So, while BPM companies themselves can provide RPA based solutions, their revenue may decrease during this transition as RPA can be many times more productive than humans.

TDB: What kind of sops is the Trump administration likely to offer to companies for bringing jobs back to US?

RG: We will have to wait and see the policies in next few quarters. America has one of the highest corporate and individual taxes in the world and lowering it may help in more domestic investments, job creation by boosting demand through increase in disposable income, etc. The US government would have a tough time deciding whether to lower corporate taxes for all and then put penalty taxes for some, or not change the tax and instead create incentives for some.

TDB: Trump has said that he will lower corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. Is this feasible?

RG: It is too early to comment on this but learnings from recent geopolitical events indicate that ‘anything is possible’ and ‘expect the unexpected’. But if it does happen, then there would be a capital flow out of the emerging markets into US.

“TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY COULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR INDIAN IT INDUSTRY”

Rishi Rais, Director, Dignitas Digital Pvt. Ltd.

Interview by Anishaa Kumar

TDB: How has the outsourcing market grown over the years and where does India stand in the global scheme of things?

Rishi Rais (RR): India's outsourcing industry has definitely seen growth in terms of global market share and the sheer size of resources involved in it. An upward trend is predicted primarily because of the following reasons: a huge talent pool, good infrastructure, entry of a large number of aggressive smaller players. The bigger players too are reinventing themselves and competition is keeping everyone on their toes.

TDB: Is Trump's promise to cut down outsourcing rational?

RR: The need for outsourcing depends on various demand-supply scenarios. Developed nations like US outsource work due to a shortage of skilled human resource. The cost factor is secondary. Newly-elected President Donald Trump’s main focus has also been on cutting down manufacturing outsourcing where the major factor for outsourcing is cost, and not the IT outsourcing which is driven by skilled human resource shortage. On the contrary, we believe that Trump’s presidency could be beneficial for the Indian IT industry.

TDB: You mentioned beneficial. Could you elaborate?

RR: Donald Trump is an extremely learned and successful businessman. He understands economics and business well. In fact, he himself has been actively outsourcing services in the past. These facts make the Trump administration’s effect on the outsourcing industry optimistic.

TDB: What could be the possible fall backs on the industry?

RR: Saying too big to fail would be pretty cliché, as the same thing happened in 2007-2008 when the whole financial system underwent a meltdown. I was right in the middle of it when it happened! But there is an old saying, “why break something when it works.” We have seen that since the past decades this model works for both the parties. Even if there is an impact, it might be felt more by the bigger players. As the mid-sized and smaller players are far more agile, they might be less impacted.

TDB: What are your plans in case outsourcing is impacted?

RR: If there are any adverse effects, they will not come in a flash but over time. The contingency plan is to focus on other big markets and our own market in case the need arises. India is developing at a phenomenal rate and that was one of the reasons for us to start a company in India and have continuous marketing efforts in India as well.

TDB: What threats will the ongoing anti-immigrant rhetoric bring to the Indian outsourcing industry?

RR: Anti-immigration is different from outsourcing. Comparing these two is not correct. While one may have some effects on the other, they are quite different from one another. Our aim should be delivering the best possible service.

“DONALD TRUMP CANNOT TURN ECONOMICS ON ITS HEAD”

Bundeep Singh Rangar, Chairman, IndusView UK Ltd.

Interview by Niladri S Nath

TDB: What do you think of US President Donald Trump's campaign promise of bringing the jobs back to US?

Bundeep Singh Rangar (BSR): I believe Donald Trump’s commitment to job creation has some sort of credibility as far as capability is concerned, given the fact that he has created more than 34,000 jobs as a businessman. I also think he was right when he said that the current trade deals are not working in favour of job creation, signalling that it’s time for a change. Now, the question is – can he deliver what he promised? Can he create an environment in which America can enhance its manufacturing base and ensure that workers are paid fairly? Or will he create a distorted and inefficient economy where jobs are created based on high US labour costs, thereby increasing price and wage inflation?

TDB: How are your clients based in US reacting to the populist posturing of Trump?

BSR: It’s no secret that Americans are sceptical of Trump’s ability to discharge his presidential duties. He is up against a polarised public opinion – the situation is quite rare as far as any recent President is concerned. Our clients disapprove his continuous breaches of basic decency, so do many citizens in general. His populism is seen as a marketing strategy, rather than genuine stance. When it comes to actual policy implementation, Trump is proposing mostly the same ideas that other Republican candidates have been advocating for years. Hence, there will definitely be a difference between what he says and what he does. Creating jobs at the cost of competitiveness will have negative consequences on the economy.

TDB: How will this anti-outsourcing stance impact Indian outsorcing industry that still rely on US for business?

BSR: It’s an issue for them, of course. Tighter visa rules will pose a big challenge to Indian IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Ltd., etc. Not only that, as the cost would increase, potential clients may also reconsider contracts involving substantial losses of American jobs. But the general consensus is that Trump can’t turn economics on its head. Services will move to those places where the resources are cheaper – if India is not an option, then somewhere else.

The reality is that the world has become a lot more interconnected than before. Almost everything we consume – from clothes to software – is produced in places that offer cost and skill efficient options. Therefore, while the rhetoric on tariffs is potent tools for winning an election, the reality is that a less efficient and costlier US manufacturing base will make its products non-competitive in the international marketplace – a scenario which American multinationals will resist.

TDB: What are the factors that could go against India?

BSR: US accounts for around 60% of software exports from India. So, any clampdown on outsourcing will disproportionately affect India. Rising visa costs will impact the profitability of Indian companies. In addition, some of the 11 million people working in the Indian BPO sector could lose jobs. Moreover, there could be job loss in various affiliated industries such as real estate,
medical, etc.

TDB: The idea of outsourcing to India comes with a host of inherent advantages which include access to low-cost and educated labour. Do you think the Trump administration can afford to ignore these aspects while formulating policies related to outsourcing?

BSR: No, they can’t. US consumers have benefitted from a higher quality of services from India at a lower price for a long time. If India is out of the equation, the Fortune 500 companies would be looking for alternate vendors in Philippines, Poland, Estonia, Mexico, China, etc. to find a substitute to the $55 billion they spent in India annually. If they reduce or stop outsourcing altogether, it will make goods and services in US more expensive, thereby eroding consumer spending and purchasing power. This will make US products and services internationally less competitive.

TDB: Trump has said that he would lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. Your take?

BSR: There are two ways to look at it. Lowering corporate tax rate is a positive development from the government’s point of view. He is counting on lower corporate tax, expecting an increase in corporate growth. He is of the view that the reduction in tax collection will be offset by higher GDP growth of 3%-5%. Hence, Trump is hoping that despite lower tax rate, the absolute value of tax collection would be higher. Also, at the same time, he is focussing on investing in homeland security and border wall. However, the combination of such increased spending and lower taxes could create a mismatch.

In addition, he is looking to offer some sort of tax amnesty to the corporates that are willing to bring back overseas profits. We all know that companies, across the globe, always look for a tax-friendly way to bring back home the overseas profits. And, Trump is planning to offer corporates that one-time tax channel, at a flat tax rate, to bring back the wealth to US. His government is expecting to make some $100 million out of this particular tax.

BBC World News: Bundeep Singh Rangar on India Demonetisation

2016-12-01T17:47:00.000+00:00

Bundeep Singh Rangar commenting on the government ban of 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes.

Keynote Speech by Bundeep Singh Rangar I Vanfunding 2016

2016-10-28T15:08:00.002+00:00

VanFUNDING 2016 is a not to be missed full day fintech crowdfunding conference that will provide unparalleled industry access, education, networking and funding opportunities to over 300 attendees in Canada’s rapidly growing alternative finance industry.

The conference featured a full day of high profile speakers, keynote(s), panel discussions, workshops, entrepreneurial pitches, industry pitch+meet, 1-1 expert meetings and exhibitor/demo lounge with leading fintech crowdfunding companies, investors, platforms, providers and the entire crowd-economy.

Fineqia was proud to be a Title Sponsor of the conference this year.

Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of Fineqia, was a key note speaker at the event. Watch his speech below:

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Sassoon

2016-09-26T11:55:00.002+00:00

Sassoon

This genius with Greek-heritage revolutionized women’s hairstyles in the post-war years. Mr. Sassoon’s salon on Bond Street in London became a hive of beautiful people, as did the ones he opened on Madison Avenue in New York in 1965 and, afterward, in Beverly Hills. Eventually he operated more than 20. He became a business pioneer creating a line of hair products under his name, building it into international hair-products empire.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Toni&Guy

2016-09-25T11:46:00.001+00:00

Toni&Guy

Toni&Guy, multi-award winning hairdressing and education business, was founded in 1963 by brothers Giuseppe (Tony) and Gaetano (Guy) Mascolo. Their first salon was opened in 1963 in London. Today, Toni & Guy has more than 6,000 employees in more than 400 salons. It has won over 50 British Hairdressing Awards including Best British Artistic Team a record (11 times), British Hairdresser of the Year three times and Newcomer of the Year seven times.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Caffè Nero

2016-09-24T11:40:00.002+00:00

Caffè Nero

This European style coffee house brand, ranked UK’s third-largest coffee chain, was founded in 1997 by Gerry Ford, an American businessman. In March 2001, the company joined joined the London Stock Exchange under the symbol CFN. After a highly successful period on the London Stock Exchange, in early 2007, Caffè Nero was taken private in order to give it more flexibility to grow the business. Today, the company runs more than 700 coffee houses worldwide and is established in seven countries: the UK, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Turkey, the UAE and the United States.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Cobra Beer

2016-09-23T08:34:00.003+00:00

Cobra Beer

Cobra Beer has been founded by an Indian entrepreneur, immigrant to Britain, Karan Faridoon Bilimoria. He launched Cobra Beer when he realised that Britain deserved a better, smoother, less gassy lager. Not just smoother, but one which complemented food, and could appeal to both ale and lager drinkers alike.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Jimmy Choo

2016-09-22T08:38:00.002+00:00

Jimmy Choo

Jimmy Choo is an iconic British luxury accessories brand defined by an empowered sense of glamour. It was founded in 1996 by a Malaysian fashion designer Jimmy Choo.

After learning from his father about the craft of shoemaking, Choo made his way to England in the early 1980s. Choosing to remain in England, Choo opened his first shop in Hackney in 1986 in an old hospital building. It didn’t take long for Choo’s reputation to build. Within two years of opening his shop, Choo’s shoes were featured in an eight-page spread in Vogue magazine.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: New Look

2016-09-21T11:40:00.003+00:00

New Look

New Look is a South African-owned British global fashion retailer with a chain of high street shops. It was founded by Tom Singh in Wellington, Somerset in 1969. Since then the company has rapidly expanded and now operates across a chain of over 1,000 stores internationally, including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Malta, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, China, Germany, Russia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Poland, and a staff of over 30,000.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: WPP plc

2016-09-20T10:58:00.003+00:00

WPP plc

WPP plc, a British multinational advertising and public relations company, owes its international success to Martin Sorrell. Martin Stuart Sorrell was born in London to a Jewish family with an electronics retailer father, whose ancestors came from Russia, Poland and Romania. Sorell took over shopping basket manufacturer WPP in 1985 and turned it into an advertising monolith. In 2015, Martin Sorrell ranked No. 5 in the Harvard Business Review’s 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: N. M. Rothschild and Sons

2016-09-19T08:04:00.003+00:00

N. M. Rothschild and Sons

N. M. Rothschild and Sons, a British multinational investment banking company, has been founded by a Jewish German banker, businessman and financier Nathan Mayer Rothschild. Once the wealthiest man on earth, Nathan was one of five sons of the second generation of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

Rothschild is consistently in the top 10 global investment banks for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory. The firm competes against a wide range of investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Reuters

2016-09-18T10:03:00.001+00:00

Reuters Group Plc

Reuters Group Plc, a worldwide provider of news and financial data, was started in 1851 by German immigrant Paul Julius Reuter at London’s Royal Exchange building. Drawing on his experience of running a news and stock price information service at Aachen, he established a reputation for speed, accuracy, integrity and impartiality by combining technologies of telegraph cables and a fleet of carrier pigeons.

The Reuters News Agency today employs about 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in some 200 locations worldwide. Reuters Group was acquired by Canada’s Thomson Corp. in 2008 for $17.2 billion.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: lastminute.com

2016-09-17T11:53:00.002+00:00

Lastminute.com

I first met Brent Hoberman when he and Martha Lane Fox started with six people in a Farringdon office in 1998. Brent and Martha were among the first Internet entrepreneurs on my TV show on Bloomberg TV in 1999. Their business model echoed with me right away, since it was all about lastminute.com!

Most Successful Companies Founded by Immigrants: EasyJet

2016-09-16T08:58:00.001+00:00

EasyJet

EasyJet was launched by Greek Cypricot Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou with two Boeing 737-200 aircrafts, initially operating two routes: London Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

It has seen a rapid growth since its establishment in 1995, fuelled by a high demand for low-cost air travel. In 2015, EasyJet operated on 735 routes and carried more than 70 million passengers, making it the second-largest short-haul airline in Europe by number of passengers carried, behind Ryanair.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: ebookers

2016-09-15T10:08:00.003+00:00

Ebookers

One of the most successful online U.K. travel agencies ebookers.com was founded by Dinesh Dhamija, a British-Indian business entrepreneur of Punjabi roots.

ebookers was established in 1998 but its origins go back more than 20 years earlier when its predecessor company Flightbookers was started by Dinesh in London’s Earls Court area.

Realising the potential of the Internet, Dinesh developed ebookers as an interactive branch of Flightbookers. Within a few years, the firm established itself as one of Europe’s leading online travel agencies. In 2005, Dinesh sold ebookers for £209m. Via subsequent acquisitions, ebookers became part of online travel company Expedia Inc. in 2015.

Most Successful Companies Founded by Immigrants: Tesco

2016-09-14T09:10:00.001+00:00

Tesco

Tesco, a third largest British multinational retailer in the world, also has its origins back in Poland. Jack Cohen, who founded Tesco in 1919, was the son of Jewish immigrant from Lodz.

Jack Cohen made his first career step at a market stall holder in Hackney, London, which quickly expanded into a larger market trading business. In 1924, he created the Tesco brand name from the initials of a tea supplier, T.E. Stockwell, and the first two letters of his surname. By 1939, Cohen was an owner of a hundred Tesco stores.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Marks & Spencer

2016-09-13T08:30:00.002+00:00

Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer, the UK’s fifth-largest retailer, was founded by Michael Marks, who immigrated into England around 1882. He was a young Polish Jew, who was struggling to make the ends meet, didn’t speak English, and had no trade experience.

Marks was a businessman at heart, and his entrepreneurial journey started when he used his savings to invest in a permanent market stall in Leeds’ open market, which quickly grew into a successful small business. Subsequently, Marks expanded into neighbouring markets, differentiating himself from others by displaying the product prices clearly.

In the pursuit of business expansion, Marks met Tom Spencer along the way, who became his partner. Marks & Spencer became a limited company in 1903. While Spencer soon retired, Marks continued to grow the company until his death in 1907.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Skype

2016-09-12T08:49:00.001+00:00

Skype Technologies

Skype, a global peer-to-peer Internet communications service, was founded by Janus Friis from Denmark and Niklas Zennström from Sweden. The Skype software was created by Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn. Although Skype was registered in Luxemburg, its success lies much with the founders Niklas and Janus moving to London in 2003 and setting up Skype’s business operations in the U.K. while software development continued in Estonia. As of 2010, Skype was available in 27 languages and has 660 million worldwide users, an average of over 100 million active each month.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants: Selfridges

2016-09-11T10:12:00.001+00:00

Selfridges

Selfridges was founded by an American immigrant, Harry Gordon Selfridge, with the express intention of changing the standards of retailing in the UK.

After a series of jobs in places such as a bank in Jackson, Michigan and Marshall Field’s in Chicago, Selfridge moved to London and invested £400,000 in his own department store in what was then the unfashionable western end of Oxford Street. The new store opened to the public on 15 March 1909 and Selfridge remained chairman until he retired in 1941.

Most Successful British Companies Founded by Immigrants Series

2016-09-10T09:25:00.003+00:00

The Brexit debate and referendum results obfuscated many real issues.

Was this a clash of political egos gone awry, a manifestation of the disconnect between the political elite and the electorate, a consequence of Islamophobia, a spasmic reaction by some Britons not yet reconciled with an Empire that’s no more, a genuine disillusionment with the EU project, or the unfortunate outcome a campaign rife with misinformation and lies?

Perhaps it’s all of the above in various doses.

What is certain, however, is that in the midst scapegoating, the contribution of immigrants is often being overlooked and sidelined.

Over the course of the next few days, I’ll highlight successful British business set up by first and second generation immigrants to the UK.

This is more than just food for thought. It’s a reminder of the constant injection of new blood into the UK polity that keeps it vibrant, innovative, dynamic and prosperous.

You might be surprised by what you glean here.

PremFina CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar at Insurance Summit 2016

2016-03-07T11:08:00.002+00:00

With the overall theme of Insuring the Uninsured, the Insurance Summit 2016 focused on the disruptive forces shaping the future of the industry and delved into the growth opportunities arising from mergers & acquisitions and a closer alignment with the sustainable development agenda.

PremFina's CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar attended the Insurance Summit to participate in the discussions on how the insurance industry should reposition itself on the global scene as a societal stakeholder which lives up to its core role as a trustworthy guardian of the future, risk manager and responsible investor.

The event has allowed attendees to learn about new growth prospects, where to find them and how close the global protection gap challenge the adequacy of current business models and discover what the insurance company of the future looks like. Those present gained insights on disruptive technologies that will transform the insurance industry and explored the opportunities consolidation offers and whether it will drive expansion into new markets.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the event, please go to http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea/insurance-summit-2016.

Oracle Capital Signs MoU with IndusView and Rudra Dalmia for Expansion to India

2016-01-28T10:01:00.001+00:00

27 January 2016, London and Delhi: Oracle Capital Group, the global independent multi-family office and wealth management company, has signed a memorandum of understanding to form a Joint Venture with IndusView UK Limited, the London-based India advisory firm, and reputed financial services professional Rudra Dalmia to establish their presence in the Indian market.

The partnership will facilitate the expansion of Oracle Capital Group into the Indian market, ranking fourth in the highest number of Ultra High Net Worth Households (UHNW) in the world according to the Boston Consulting Group.

The collaboration with IndusView and Mr. Dalmia will open up significant opportunities for Oracle Capital Group in India and bring access to a number of Indian family and corporate networks.

IndusView’s founder Bundeep Singh Rangar has a proven decade-long track record of advising family-owned businesses on commercial opportunities emanating from India’s fast growing economy. This includes the facilitation of Del Monte Pacific Limited investment in FieldFresh Foods Pvt. Ltd., the agriculture joint venture between the E.L. Rothschild and India’s Bharti Enterprises Ltd., the holding company of Sunil Mittal, that’s behind India’s largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel Limited and partner of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Mr. Dalmia is a seasoned investment professional with more than 15 years experience in Private Equity, Financial Services and Investment Banking across Asia, Europe and the United States. He is a well-known investment and socioeconomic commentator and has been featured in various publications globally. Mr. Dalmia advises a number of Indian and Global family offices and manages discretionary capital for them in India.

He has been the architect of several cross border transactions from countries like UK, Germany, Singapore, Vietnam and United States. He has acted as Principal or Advisor in a number of industries, including Hospitality, Real Estate, Financial Services, Technology and Wellness. He was the CEO of Saxo Bank India until December 2015.

“India continues to shine in an otherwise cloudy global economy,” said Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of IndusView. “With a 7% annual growth rate that’s the highest of any large economy, India’s $2 trillion economy continues to create a new generation of high net worth individuals. Rudra Dalmia and I will work with Oracle Capital to successfully expand and grow in this lucrative market.”

“We are very excited by the prospects of Indian market and the opportunities it brings for Oracle Capital Group”, said Martin Graham, Chairman of Oracle Capital Group. “IndusView and Rudra Dalmia’s extensive network and experience will greatly complement our comprehensive services of investment advisory, wealth structuring and asset protection via the mutual effort of extending our services to high net worth individuals and their family businesses in India.”

Rudra Dalmia stated, “I believe India’s potential married to IndusView’s knowledge bank, and Oracle Capital’s extremely powerful global investor base, will create numerous opportunities for cross border transactions and wealth creation. I am very excited with our partnership as we are good friends and have worked on several transactions in the past, our synergies are obvious and we have a huge pipeline of opportunities for investors in Oracle Capital Group’s network.”

Media Contact

Anton Davidenko

Head of Marketing Communications

Oracle Capital Group

Telephone: +44 20 7725 6953

anton.d@orcap.co.uk

Karolina Komarnicka

Marketing Associate

IndusView UK Limited

Telephone: +44 20 7745 6216

Karolina.Komarnicka@IndusView.com

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IndusView advises multinational companies and family offices on business opportunities emanating from India's fast growing economy. It identifies growth opportunities and de-risks growth ambitions of multinational companies and family offices in India as a trusted partner that understands the complexities of the Indian market and the commercial drivers of western and Indian enterprises.

For more information visit: www.indusview.com

RBI Cuts Interest Rates To Boost World’s Fastest Growing Economy

2015-06-02T13:54:00.001+00:00

IndusView, Tuesday 2 June 2015 (London): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has today reduced its interest rates by 25 basis points to 7.25%, the third cut this year, taking advantage of subdued inflation to lend more support to India’s economy.

The Wholesale Price Index, India's most closely watched inflation gauge, has been in the negative zone since November 2014. In April last year, it was 5.55%. Deflationary pressure continued for the sixth month in a row with inflation dropping to a new low of (-) 2.65% in April, mainly on account of decline in prices of fuel and manufactured items even as food prices increased.

“High inflation has been a constant roadblock for policymakers struggling to breathe life into Asia's third-largest economy and the RBI can’t be complacent about meeting its medium term inflation target,” said Bundeep Singh Rangar, Chairman of London-based advisory firm IndusView. “Today’s decision is unlikely to be the last in the current situation but we are predicting only one more 25 basis point cut.”

The cut comes after the Indian economy registered 7.5% growth in the January to March quarter compared with a year earlier. That made India the world's fastest growing major economy, overtaking China's 7% growth in the same quarter.

Current account deficit (CAD) is estimated to be around 1.5% of the GDP in the current fiscal, helped by sharp fall in oil prices even as gold imports rose in the past few months, the Reserve Bank said today. Gold imports spiked in the month of March and remained elevated in April owing to regulatory relaxations and festival demand. In the first half of the 2014-2015 fiscal, CAD was at 1.9% of the GDP or $18 billion.

South Asia's economic outlook is largely favorable since most economies are expected to experience a strengthening of growth in 2015-2016 on the back of stronger domestic consumption and investment, and a pick-up in exports. According to the United Nations report, the region is projected to reach a GDP growth of 6.7% in 2015 and 6.9% in 2016, up from an estimated 6.3% in 2014.

While portfolio and direct foreign investment flows were buoyant during 2014-2015, with net foreign direct investment into India at $36.6 billion and net portfolio inflows at $41 billion, the year 2015-2016 has begun with net portfolio outflows in the wake of a reduction in global portfolio allocations to India.

“There is a need to further improve the business environment. Reforms in the last one year are welcome, but more needs to be done in order to build foreign investors confidence,” said Rangar. “Decline in foreign investments could put pressure on the country’s balance of payments and also impact the value of the rupee.”

Australia and New Zealand have recently joined Japan in order to persuade India to open its rapidly growing e-Commerce sector for foreign investments. These countries want to include the sector in the 16-nation regional trade pact that's being negotiated.

India does not allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment but 100% FDI is allowed in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, marking the difference in rules for retail and wholesale. It allows 49% FDI in multi-brand retail but with restrictions.

The government is under pressure to come out with a policy on the e-commerce sector in four months as brick-and-mortar retailers have filed a case in the Delhi High Court on the issue.

The pact includes 10 Asean countries and the six partners with which they have free trade agreements (FTAs), including Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

PremFina Wins Best New Business Award (Yes we know it’s early, we were surprised too.)

2015-05-08T12:14:00.001+00:00

London, May 8, 2015 – PremFina (www.premfina.com) was named winner of the Best New Business Award at the 2015 Best Business Awards that took place on March 25, 2015.

PremFina is an innovative company in the £6 billion UK premium finance market. It supplies insurance brokers with their own branded premium financing through the provision of both the software to manage the sale of broker-branded insurance policies to consumers and businesses as well as the financing to enable their customers to pay their policy premiums via monthly instalment plans.

Best New Business Award, aimed at companies marked by a clear point of differentiation that have been trading for less than three years, recognizes PremFina for bringing innovation to the UK’s insurance industry premium finance segment with its white-label premium finance solution. Brokers currently facilitate rather than manage the issuance of premium finance agreements, handing over a client relationship to the insurance company after finding customer the right policy. They make only small referral fees and operate using inflexible software. PremFina’s white-labeled premium finance service allows them to offer and manage financing agreements themselves. It gives them the ability to brand, set market relevant prices, maintain customer touchpoints to upsell and cross sell and gives them a bigger interest-based fee - all using the industry’s best software. It essentially puts brokers in control.

Upon receiving the Award, PremFina’s CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar said:

To be recognized for a disruptive potential at such an early stage in the game only gives us a reassurance that we’re on the right track. We truly believe that our “Give Premium, Get Premium” approach is what the insurance brokers were waiting for and now have the chance to experience first-hand.”

The Best Business Awards are one of the UK's highest profile awards. Its goal is to highlight and reward excellence across the private and public sectors. They pride themselves on having a large panel of over 20 independent expert judges who select winners according to strict criteria for each category and sector. The winners all have one thing in common – they are truly excellent at what they do and PremFina is proud to have been recognized as being one of them.

About the Best Business Awards

The Best Business Awards are open to private, public and third sector organisations of all sizes. There are four rounds each year with quarterly deadlines being the last working day of January, April, July and October and winners for each round hold their title for twelve months.

Website: http://www.bestbusinessawards.co.uk/

About Awards Intelligence

The Best Business Awards are marketed and administered by Awards Intelligence the World’s leading provider of business awards and personal honours services, providing news and information and support to progressive individuals and organisations across the world.

Website: http://www.awardsintelligence.co.uk/

London Entrepreneur Launches ‘the Uber of Premium Finance’

2015-05-08T12:08:00.004+00:00

London, 13 May 2015 – CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar today announced the launch of PremFina (www.premfina.com) – a new player bringing innovation to the traditional UK premium finance market with its white-label premium finance solution. PremFina’s solution means better returns, better retention and greater autonomy for insurance brokers, and it is coming to BIBA 2015 to show them what they’ve been missing out.

PremFina takes premium finance to the next level. It transforms the rigid model adopted by the competition, which sees brokers facilitating rather than managing the issuance of premium finance agreements, using inflexible software and making small referral fees, by providing them instead with their own-branded premium finance facility. PremFina’s white-label solution offers brokers a combination of market-leading software to manage the sale of broker-branded insurance policies to consumers and businesses as well as the financing to enable their customers to pay policy premiums via monthly instalment plans. This means brokers get to keep everything in-house.

Because every industry needs its Uber. PremFina, like Uber, is in the business of changing how things are done by cutting out the middleman, with its disruptive technology. Uber has done it for taxi drivers with their ‘tech startup meets taxi service’ mobile app, giving drivers a platform for accelerating their business by connecting them with the customers directly. PremFina has done it with its premium finance solution that makes insurance brokers more ‘freelance’ by saving them from a hand over of their customer relationship to the financing company.

Like Uber, PremFina takes things up a notch with easy to use, flexible software that tracks the progress of customer journey, has options at every price and for different needs. All this translates into the highest standard customer service. Let’s face it, that’s what it’s all about.

With PremFina, you Give Premium, and Get Premium. That’s right. Our solution gives brokers the ability to brand, set market relevant prices, a bigger interest-based fee and an opportunity to maintain customer touchpoints to upsell and cross sell. It essentially puts the brokers in better control of their business.

“We’re really excited to be going to BIBA this year. It couldn’t be a better timing for us with PremFina launching just in time for the event“ said CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. “If you want to have a drink and a chat about what we do, or just want to say hi, we’ll be at stand C58.”

The BIBA conference is a flagship event for the UK insurance industry. It offers invaluable networking opportunities and a programme of inspirational keynote speakers, senior industry personalities and experts in insurance and general business related fields.