Desi IT firms move to west to cut cost
Bangalore: Indian IT firms that thrived on the outsourcing boom in the = West are themselves headed offshore, from Malaysia to Mexico, to escape the = double sting of surging salaries and a rising rupee.
Leading firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam and smaller companie= s are stepping up acquisitions and opening more facilities closer to US and = European clients to cut costs–the reason why work was farmed out to India i= n the first place. Salaries of software professionals rose 18.7% in 2007, a = survey showed on Tuesday, while the rupee has gained almost 10% this year to= near 10-year high against the dollar.
That’s er= oding the cost advantage once enjoyed by the $50 billion information technol= ogy industry, which bills two-thirds of sales in dollars but whose expenses are= almost all incurred in rupees.
IT firms are “of= f-shoring” work to time zones and locations nearer their clients in = a reversal of the trend that made Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, the fav= ourite back-office of the world’s biggest companies.
This week Wipro opened a facility in the Mexican city of Monterrey to = service American and European clients and Satyam launched a software centre = in MSC Malaysia, a government-designated high-tech zone. “In the past, we vi= ewed offshoring as India-centric, but we do not do it any more,” said Satya= m founder B Ramalinga Raju, who on Monday opened the centre to support busin= ess in the US, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
”We= look at offshoring as delivering through high-quality workforce in lower-co= st countries,” he said. Satyam has hired 300 mostly-Malaysian IT engineers = to man the facility, whose workforce will rise to 2,000 in four years.
Leading firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam and smaller companie= s are stepping up acquisitions and opening more facilities closer to US and = European clients to cut costs–the reason why work was farmed out to India i= n the first place. Salaries of software professionals rose 18.7% in 2007, a = survey showed on Tuesday, while the rupee has gained almost 10% this year to= near 10-year high against the dollar.
That’s er= oding the cost advantage once enjoyed by the $50 billion information technol= ogy industry, which bills two-thirds of sales in dollars but whose expenses are= almost all incurred in rupees.
IT firms are “of= f-shoring” work to time zones and locations nearer their clients in = a reversal of the trend that made Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, the fav= ourite back-office of the world’s biggest companies.
This week Wipro opened a facility in the Mexican city of Monterrey to = service American and European clients and Satyam launched a software centre = in MSC Malaysia, a government-designated high-tech zone. “In the past, we vi= ewed offshoring as India-centric, but we do not do it any more,” said Satya= m founder B Ramalinga Raju, who on Monday opened the centre to support busin= ess in the US, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
”We= look at offshoring as delivering through high-quality workforce in lower-co= st countries,” he said. Satyam has hired 300 mostly-Malaysian IT engineers = to man the facility, whose workforce will rise to 2,000 in four years.
=
Source:TOI
HARSH
Tonight’s top picks. What will you watch tonight?=20 Preview the hottest shows on Yahoo! TV. =20
