With the crisis in the financial sector in the US and Europe there have been concerns about the consequences on the IT industry in India. The banking and financial services segment contributes over 30 per cent of the revenue of Indian IT companies. A recent report by Wedbush Securities stressed that deals from the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) and high-tech sectors might slowdown in light of the crisis.
The Indian IT industry has recorded exceptional growth rate in the past few decades. However, the IT industry’s overarching reliance on Europe and US markets could up end creating disruption (see table).
Firms in the US and Europe are expected to defer their IT spending and also resort to cost-cutting measures. This would have a direct impact on the outsourcing business of Indian IT companies, and the uncertain economic environment could affect the project pipeline as well.
This would also have an impact on the recruitment in Indian IT firms at least in the shorter term.
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I am not sorry to say that I do not care if India loses jobs in its IT sector. I am sure that everyone has experienced speaking on the phone for technical support to someone in India. I personally believe it is a culture thing: Indians are not taught critical thinking skills in their culture. I have personally seen this in college and in the engineering field. Give them a script and they can follow it. Go off script and they are lost.
But that is not why I do not care: we should be training our children in IT, engineering and science degrees. We should not be shipping these jobs overseas so that corporate America can save some money. Maybe if our children would go to college to get valid degrees that will build a better America, we would not be in this position.
David DeGerolamo
Dear Jesus. Having “Brightspeed” formerly Century Stink for internet service here in rural NC, I have encountered India tech support Hell. I agree there are cultural issues at play, including the inability to admit that they can’t do something. In any case, yes, we should be training our own, not relying on the, because their labor is cheap.
Funny article. I was on the phone over an hour yesterday attempting to communicate with a pair of strong Indian accents at the “roadside assistance” department of our car insurance carrier (my son’s car broke down a ways out of town). The first New Dehlian told me that it would only be $2,200 to tow the car 25 miles back in to town. When I questioned this, she asked me to call her first cousin, which I did, still full of hope that I might get the help I needed at a REASONABLE price. The first cousin amazingly got the cost down to $289. I figured once I was in front of the tow truck driver we’d determine the true cost(my guess was probably about $75 bucks or less as so far, independent tow truck drivers out here seem to be far less rapacious than other places I have lived). Then first cuz explained that in order to dispatch a tow truck the $289 charge would have to be pre-paid via an internet link(we don’t use our debit card EVER on the internet and we don’t even have credit cards, but that is another matter for another day). Three times she told me that I needed to use a link to prepay for the tow with my phone. Three times I told her that my phone does not have internet access( I don’t use a S.M.A.R.T. phone). I finally hung up on her, went into town to rent a trailer to tow the car and the guy at the trailer rental (at a reputable auto mechanic shop) said it was $50 to rent the trailer for the day, but that he’d go and get the car no charge when his guys got back from lunch. Now I am looking for an insurance carrier with USABLE roadside assistance. Needless to say I am not very sympathetic to the plight of Indian IT.
S.M.A.R.T.= Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. S.M.A.R.T. is not to help us. It is to help “them”.