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BPIAI meet ensured enhanced security measures for the BPO Industry

Indian industry will feel the real impact of the current meltdown in the US and other developed economies in the first quarter of 2009, with the business process industry likely to see job losses of up to a quarter of a million, said Mr Samir Chopra, President, Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI).

Addressing delegates at a session on 'Surviving US Recession-Developing & Transforming Policies', Mr. Chopra, however, saw a silver lining in the ongoing recession for the BPO sector, saying that it would compel more companies in the US and Europe to look at outsourcing as a way cut their costs and improve efficiencies.

He said that urgent government measures were needed to boost the domestic business process industry, specially the medium and small enterprises. These included both fiscal and administrative measures, like extending the tax relief for the IT sector for another 5-10 years and export promotion steps, including a market development fund.

For Mr. Anand Pillai, the current meltdown was an opportunity for the Indian BPO sector to add value to its services. This, he said, was important if they were to retain and expand their client base. Taking an optimistic view of the current slowdown, he said that a positive response and attitude would help shorten the recession cycle. "For this, it was important workplaces should engender learning, preparing employees for the turnaround, when it happens.

Citing the example of his company, HCL Technologies Ltd, Mr. Pillai said that "the core asset in any IT industry were its staff and cost-cutting through retrenchments was not the right policy to follow. The savings resulting from such job cuts are miniscule when compared to the damage they cause in terms of employee satisfaction and service delivery."

Disagreeing with Mr Chopra that the current slowdown was temporary, Mr Praveen Sengar, Head-Software, Services & Industry (Vertical Reserach), IDC India Ltd, said recovery from the last slowdown in 2001 had taken six quarters when the sectors affected were much less. "This time, I see a recovery only around the first half or the third quarter of 2010."  

Source: CII

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