There is travel cost, there is consolidation of real estate, among other measures.”

But what about the backlash when jobs are outsourced? For one, Indian IT firms have realised the importance of creating more local jobs in the geographies they operate, especially the US, to counter growing ‘protectionist’ rhetoric from US senators and pressure from the Obama administration. Even though the net addition of jobs would be marginal due to jobs moving back to India, during the last six months alone, analysts estimate that Indian IT-BPO firms would have created over 10,000 jobs in international locations, with the majority of these being created in the US.

For instance, HCL Technologies alone has created approximately 2,500 jobs in the US and UK combined in the past six months. TCS, the largest employer in the IT sector in India, has added 2,146 employees in its overseas branches, including those in the US, UK and Mexico, during the past two quarters. And though Infosys and Wipro declined to share the number of overseas recruits during the past two quarters, industry sources say these numbers are well above 1,000.

“It is but natural for the US government to talk about protectionism. Anyone would have if you have an increasing number of umemployed citizens. So, in that sense, I think this is temporary,” said Shiv Aggarwal, CEO, ABC Consultants. Concurred Shermon: “IT firms still need to attract good talent and sending them overseas is a big incentive.”

Source: Business Standard