Top Outsourcing News Stories of This Week

IT, healthcare and BPO sector to create over 3 lakh jobs in Jan-March quarter; FMCG, auto to go slow

The job market is set to bounce back in 2012 as companies maintain their growth and expansion plans for the year despite the global slowdown. The January-March quarter is likely to see the creation of over 3 lakh jobs in traditionally top-hiring sectors like information technology (IT), business process outsourcing (BPO), healthcare, education, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and energy, according to industry estimates.

Job generation in this quarter is similar to January to March 2011 levels, when close to 3.99 lakh jobs were created in the organised sector . Sectors that are likely to show caution are auto, construction, engineering, FMCG and telecom. The IT and BPO sectors alone will create as many as 2.5 lakh jobs next year, most of which will be created by March 2012, according to IT industry association Nasscom.

"While a slowdown is anticipated, there will not be much of an impact on the job market . In fact, we are seeing a lot of clients going ahead with fulfilling unmet demand," says Ajit Isaac, MD of Bangalore-based placement and search firm Ikya Human Capital Solution. Hiring mandates, he adds, have grown by up to 10% in the January-March quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year. 

Source: Economic Times

China next growth frontier for Indian IT-BPO cos: Report

Global services exports revenue in China is projected to increase to at a CAGR of 20-25 per cent from $3.5 billion in 2010, according to Everest Group, an advisory and research firm on global services.

Global services exports from China have been increasing at a continuous pace, surging from about $1.2 billion in 2007 to $3.5 billion in 2010, according to Everest Group's study, Global Locations Compass: China.

The study reports that ITO services contribute 65 per cent towards China's total export revenue, driven by in country presence of several global IT services providers. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) work comprises the remaining 35 per cent.

"China offers a compelling regional language advantage and cost arbitrage and is thus best leveraged to serve the Asia region, which accounts for about 60 per cent of China's global sourcing revenues," said Amneet Singh, vice president - Global Sourcing.

"While lack of clear cost and English language skills translate to a limited competitive advantage over India and the Philippines for work exported to North America and Europe, these regions still account for about 40 per cent of China's global sourcing exports. China can serve as a risk diversification alternative to serve North America and Europe."

Source: Times Of India

IT majors are exploring rural BPOs as alternative

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), which began in India with American Express setting up its first back-office centre, was not considered seriously by the career-minded Indians.

The profession has seldom been considered at par with mainstream IT jobs. However, times have changed, with even premier IT body Nasscom saying that the BPO sector has created around 10 lakh jobs in the country.

But as the sector flourishes, the rising demand for BPO workers has pushed up manpower cost. Hence, to keep cost low, IT big-shots like Wipro, Infosys and Aditya Birla Minacs are now increasingly getting their BPO jobs done in tier-3 and 4 cities.

Companies target educated people in the age group of 21 to 25 years and provide them employment opportunities, close to their homes. The process also helps companies cut costs compared to that in big cities. From these rural BPO centres, companies focus on voice service only and cater to the growing domestic demand.

After planning for 18 months, Infosys has recently started a small BPO venture in Kaup of Udupi district in Karnataka, for which, it has signed a partnership with Desicrew, which will manage the BPO with it.

Source: Deccanherald