The Indian outsourcing sector has matured as the focus has shifted on to the export of jobs to countries like India. This outsourcing sector employs more than two million people, the revenues of which account for roughly five per cent of the country's economic output. According to Gartner, the BPO market in India is estimated to grow 19 per cent through 2013.
Roughly 70 per cent of business comes from the US companies and given the dismal economic scene in the United States and the results of the just-concluded mid-term elections, hard times may lie ahead.
Outsourcing has, indeed, been a key issue in this election. A Democratic bill intended to penalize companies that ship jobs overseas was blocked by the Republicans from becoming a law, mere days before the mid-term election. The bill proposed ending tax deductions for expenses when companies cut down US operations, and shift jobs abroad. It also suggested imposing tax on products once made in US, but manufactured elsewhere now, besides offering employers a two-year payroll tax holiday on jobs repatriated from overseas.
US President Barack Obama has also signed into law a new Border Security Bill proposing a steep hike in some categories of H-1B and L-1 visa fees.
