China planning to build ‘Little India’ to attract outsourcing industry

September 9th, 2009 BEIJING - The Chinese government has pledged more aid from the country's financial institutions to boost its outsourcing industry, officials said Wednesday. In a statement posted on the website of the central bank Wednesday, the government urged the banks to develop more policies and credit products tailored for the outsourcing business, especially for firms in the 20 pilot cities for the industry, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shanghai.

February 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - China is unlikely to overtake India in outsourcing business anytime soon and it would take not one country but a lot of small ones to knock it off the top, according to a US expert. 'China is pretty far behind India and even places like the Philippines and Eastern Europe.

February 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - India can rightly be called the back office of the world for its achievements in Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Mao Siwei said Sunday. 'Now China is called the 'factory of the world,' while India the 'back office of the world'.

March 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A downturn in worldwide economy, Satyam's fraud case and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and supply chain and shipping cost issues in China are causing US technology companies to pull back from the two traditional outsourcing locations. Citing these three global factors, an annual survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of America's leading accounting and consulting organizations, Tuesday suggested several technology firms would choose US as future outsourcing location over India and China.

December 28th, 2008 NEW DELHI - Third party logistics outsourcing business in India will grow to $90 million from the present $58 million by 2012, according to a study released Monday. Presently around 55 percent of Indian companies are outsourcing logistic services like supply chain management and warehousing, said the study by the Associated Chamber of commerce and Industry (Assocham).

March 25th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - An eight-member delegation from China's Shenyang city Wednesday visited the information technology campus Technopark here to pick up tips on software outsourcing. The officials from the Shenyang Information Industry Bureau (SIIB) said they would study Kerala's software outsourcing services to set up similar parks back home.

May 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Inc believes the move by the Barack Obama administration to reduce tax breaks for US firms that ship jobs overseas will hit American companies more than impact on the Indian outsourcing industry. 'It's a more US-US issue rather than one aimed at stopping outsourcing, or off-shoring, or anything to do with India,' said Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), a representative boddy for the industry.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's information technology and outsourcing industry is expected to grow over 7 percent this fiscal to log revenues of $64 billion with much faster expansion within the domestic market, a leading industry group said Wednesday. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has forecast in its latest study that the software and outsourcing industry will log an export growth of 4-7 percent this fiscal to log $48-50 billion in revenues.

September 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The third party logistics (3PL) business in India is likely to reach $90 million by 2012 from $58 million now, as the model is fast catching up among the country's businessmen due to its cost advantage, an industry lobby report says. "Currently 3PL outsourcing among Indian companies is estimated at $58 million as 55 percent of them are outsourcing services like supply chain management and warehousing," the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said in a paper.

November 12th, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar government will soon have its own information technology (IT) policy and give industry status to the IT sector to help it attract more investments, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Thursday. "I am glad to announce that Bihar will have its IT policy soon and the IT sector will be given industry status, which will boost its development," Kumar said here at a programme organised by the industry forum Infocom.

May 5th, 2009 BANGALORE - US President Barack Obama's announcement to end tax sops to those US firms outsourcing jobs to countries like India has come under flak from Phil Harkins, a leading US management expert and chief executive of Linkage Inc, a global firm specialising in leadership development 'What Obama is doing is just politics. It's the arrogance of the US to think creating jobs overseas will result in job losses back home.

May 7th, 2009 BANGALORE - Undaunted by US President Barack Obama's Bangalore-Buffalo remark and proposal to extend tax benefits to those creating job opportunities to Americans, experts in the Indian IT industry said the comments had nothing to do with outsourcing or with India. It is an instance of Obama's views being misinterpreted, said Som Mittal, President of Nasscom, while speaking to media persons here on Wednesday.

October 15th, 2009 CHENNAI - The Nasdaq-listed software services firm Cognizant Technology Thursday announced it would acquire Hyderabad-based UBS India Service Centre, the captive service provider to the UBS Group for an undisclosed sum. As part of the multi-year agreement, Cognizant will provide a range of services relating to business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing, information technology and remote infrastructure management to UBS divisions around the globe.

August 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The global financial crisis, it seems, has affected the outsourcing of mass from foreign countries to India. Till a few months ago, requests for these so-called "Mass Intentions", or prayers offered for a specific reason, poured into India from the United States, Canada and Europe, where there is a huge shortage of priests.

November 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Infosys BPO Ltd, the business processing outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary of software major Infosys Technologies, is looking at fresh acquisitions and hiring people. Speaking to reporters here Monday, Infosys BPO managing director and chief executive Amitabh Chaudhary said his company was "looking at acquisitions in the range of $80-200 million".