Infosys reverses outsourcing trend

The Hindu ^ | Thursday, April 8, 2004

[sixmil]

Business
Infosys reverses outsourcing trend

Bangalore, April 8. (AP): Infosys Technologies, which has risen to become the country's second-largest software maker thanks largely to outsourced work from the West, plans to reverse that trend by investing US$20 million to create nearly 500 consulting jobs in the United States.

The company has set up a subsidiary in Fremont, California to provide business consulting to American corporations. The new company, Infosys Consulting, has begun ``aggressive hiring in America,'' Infosys chief executive officer Nandan Nilekani told reporters Thursday.

``As we are looking to expand our global footprint, we are creating local employment in the countries we operate,'' he said.

In the first year, the new firm will hire 75 experienced business consultants, with plans for a total of 500 hires within the next three years.

While the United States has lost thousands of jobs to low-wage countries such as India in a practice known as offshore outsourcing, the investment by Infosys shows outsourcing can also generate new jobs in the United States - though on a smaller scale, Nilekani said.

The company's American employees would advise U.S. corporations on improving their efficiency by embracing outsourcing and moving work to Infosys' offices in India.

Hiring Americans would help understand the needs of the clients and industry trends better, Nilekani added.

Infosys, which employs 23,000 people, offers software development and back-office financial transactions for companies abroad. In the fiscal year ending March 31, it is expected to surpass total revenues of US$1 billion for the first time.

Infosys Consulting will also be opening offices in other countries later on, but Nilekani declined to say where.

Indian outsourcing companies have previously set up offices in the United States, but they have been largely restricted to marketing and have created very few jobs.

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Business

[sixmil]

Good news free traders, now you can personally help in the outsourcing effort.

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[Tax Government]

What changes of international circumstance could put all the outsourcing companies into the toilet? A full-scale mid-east war might do that...

[Jeff Head]

harpseal

[Jeff Head]

The Dragon's Fury

[Reeses]

Fremont, California is Little India. It has the highest concentration of Indians living in California. I'm sure the "75 experienced business consultants" will be mostly first-generation Indian immigrants barely hanging on to their H1-B visas and willing to work for very cheap, who speak the native tongue and are loyal to India, and whose primary purpose will be to facilitate more outsourcing to India.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Even before "outsourcing" was a part of our vocabulary, I've wondered whose interests would come first for the companies who did what Columbus couldn't do.
"20 April 1914 The "Ludlow Massacre." In an attempt to persuade strikers at Colorado's Ludlow Mine Field to return to work, company "guards," engaged by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and other mine operators and sworn into the State Militia just for the occasion, attacked a union tent camp with machine guns, then set it afire. Five men, two women and 12 children died as a result." (footnote: raided from somewhere on-line)
Usually, imagination would take me to the movie about Rollerball, and company disputes replacing country disputes, but with private firms providing security, the concept of a standing army takes on new meaning.

[sweetjane]

"As we are looking to expand our global footprint, we are creating local employment in the countries we operate,'' he said."

Okay, when corporations open operations in the countries they hope to sell their goods too, it's not called "outsourcing." It's called investment in the country you want to do business in.

When American corporations seek cheap foreign labor in order to sell products back to Americans, it's called outsourcing. This is what the ruckus is all about.

Another example. When Citibank opens operations in India in order to sell banking services to people in India, it's called investment. When Citibank opens offices in India to service American accounts that could be serviced in America, it's called outsourcing.

One of the biggest problems is understanding the definition of outsourcing. You gotta understand it before you can defend it.