Amazing --"...By next month, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies in India, the nation's software and services sector will post total revenue of $15.57 billion, up from $5.54 billion in March 2000. Over the same period, the industry's employment has grown to 813,500 from 284,000.
The group estimates that exports of software and services--mostly to the U.S.--will rise to $12.20 billion in March from $3.96 billion in 2000, despite the sharp downturn in the U.S. economy. If growth trends hold, the association predicts that exports could reach $40 billion or more by 2009.
U.S. executives routinely say they find the quality of work in India to be as good as or better than the work done at home. That's partly because even low-level employees who answer phones in call centers are likely to have college degrees.
"These are the crown jewels of the American value chain you're losing here," Clemons said of the loss of white-collar jobs. "If you begin losing the upper end, you affect a lot of people on the chain."
In India, where education is inexpensive, the knowledge pool is building up. Some 20 million people graduated from various degree programs in 2001, but only 2.5 million found jobs in 2002, meaning the rest are young, educated and ready to go.
Clemons put it this way: "What troubles me about India is that they've done proactively what we are having to do reactively.
"There's a culture of inquiry here. I've never met so many smart, so incredibly inexpensive people."
siliconinvestor.com |
