Ramifications of outsourcing and off
shoring: An Indian Perspective
Past two decades have witnessed a great
change in the Indian social and economic scenario. A move towards globalisation
has opened up the economy for the new trends- off shoring and outsourcing. Two major industries: IT and BPO have generated employment to millions of Indians. There has been substantial increase in the foreign exchange cash flows through a steady increase in IT & ITES industries.
Just as everything comes with a
price. Outsourcing comes with its share of burdens and implications on the economy. India must understand the long standing repercussions. IT companies and
BPO's are now slowly experiencing the tremors. BPOs are already experiencing
saturation and there seems to be hardly any more growth and bleak chances of further employment
generation in this front. IT companies are now bored of doing same kind of
repetitive work as the most advanced and technologically challenging work is
never outsourced. This kind of trade is not going to be beneficial for a
developing country like India on a long run.
Though outsourcing has given a good boost up for the economy. It has generated a hype and adoration for western kind of life style in the newly evolving breed of tech-savvy people. Further, concentration of the IT hubs in cities eventually lead to mushrooming of satellite towns around the major cities. The existing fragile network of the cities is further weakened by mass migration from villages, thus exerting a great pressure on scarce resources of the cities. IT boom has created great rift in society due to huge difference in income levels of the techies and the rest which might lead to a growing resentment and frustration among the poor.
Under the garb of development and
growth country is at tremendous risk of putting the meagre natural resources
under pressure. Several farm lands around cities are cleared for constructing big infrastructures to house the IT centres. This is massive blow to the delicate environmental balance of urban ecosystems. Several smart and educated graduates employed for a fraction of wages are grossly unaware of exploitation. Every new technology they developed or every new program worked out generates intellectual property. By potentially surrendering their rights over this property they are empowering the multinationals with the ownership of several patents.
Intellectual Property rights would eventually be claimed by the multinationals and our future generations would end up paying huge amount of royalties for availing the same
technologies.
Developing country like India with
an overwhelming population of 1.2 billion and meagre energy resources should
have a strategic planning. Huge population has been both a boon and bane. But for a stable
economy the prerogative should be a sustainable growth with long term
planning. Still majority of the population are deprived of the basic amenities
like- food, shelter, health care, sanitation and primary education. Development should bring change in standard of living of the masses.
Future economic policies must
concentrate on development and regulated use of the available natural
resources. Government must identify core areas of development and should strive to attain a holistic growth. First and foremost priority should be to have renewable
power with low polluting energy resources, water purification & conservation
and reliable health care. Energy independent country can boost growth of
industrial and manufacturing sector which provides gainful employment. Major thrust should be on Biotechnology
and pharmaceuticals industry to produce vaccines, life saving drugs and
contraceptives for effective population control.
Concerted efforts should be made to build good infrastructure, transport facilities and supply chains
that can transform the economy.
A global economy needs to have a
hawk-eye in protecting the intellectual property rights. So far, outsourcing had a significant impact on the urban economy but the rural economy is largely untouched. Any industry must be capable of bringing about noticeable change in wider sections of the country. The impact of this new trend has been confined to few sectors. Thus a lopsided development might be dangerous as it might increase existing disparities.
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