By IANS
Bangalore : The Indian BPO (business process outsourcing) industry should be booming in next four years, a study here has said and forecast that it would touch $50 billion by 2012 from the current $11 billion and create over two million direct jobs in the country.
The study, “Roadmap 2012 – capitalising on the expanding BPO landscape”, conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the premier trade organisation of Indian IT industry, and global strategy firm Everest Group, was released here Tuesday.
“The report indicates a possible target of $50 billion by 2012 for the Indian BPO industry. This reflects a five-fold growth over the next five years and can create up over 2 million direct jobs in India,” Everest Group Country Head Gaurav Gupta told reporters at the release of the study.
The Indian BPO sector has evolved tremendously since its inception, not only in its size but also in terms of maturity – service lines, service delivery capability and footprint, said Nasscom president Som Mittal.
“This $11 billion industry today employs more that 700,000 people across 25 countries and accounts for approximately 40 percent of the global BPO offshore market, thereby creating huge job opportunities and impacting the economy. The future potential is even larger. This study not only estimates the opportunity ahead but also lays down specific agenda for all stakeholders to help achieve this,” he said.
The study outlines the need for significant collaboration between the industry, government and other stakeholders on a range of initiatives including education, infrastructure, country-competitiveness, and domestic BPO.
It suggests eight action themes for the Indian BPO industry to realise its potential.
“India is best equipped to capitalise on the available opportunities but to ensure these opportunities are not lost to other offshore destinations, stakeholders of Indian BPO industry need to act on eight action themes for the Indian BPO industry to realise its potential, and to maintain and accelerate the growth trajectory over the next 5-10 years,” it says.
The themes include protection of India’s cost advantage to ensure that buyer interest, adoption and growth are sustained, creation of BPO hubs’ with enabling physical and social ecosystem to drive BPO-led growth broader and deeper within India, increasing employability and accessing untapped talent pools by creating greater linkages between the current education system and the needs of the BPO industry, and facilitating the development of BPO-specific education models.
The findings of the study will be discussed at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2008, the largest IT Summit in Asia, to be held in Mumbai between February 13 and 15, Mittal said.