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Today,
there is hardly any discus-sion under economics that is "glo-balization-free".
Its all pervasiveness is mostly attributed to multilateral
trade liberalization; success of the economic reforms in developing
countries, particularly China and India; technological advancement
and convergence in communication and computation technologies,
and the resulting blurred demarcation between what can and
cannot be traded in the international trade. The net result
of these developments is the emergence of new macroeconomic
interdependencies that transcend sovereign boundaries.
With
the advent of globalization we have been witnessing many `seismic
changes' in the world. One of them is the intense international
competition that many businesses are facing today. This led
to companies outsourcing and off-shoring of manufacturing
activities and services to countries that are endowed with
low-cost labor. McKinsey Global Institute is of the opinion
that 18.3 million jobs in services could have been shifted
to low-cost countries. It also predicts that by 2008, 160
million jobs in services are likely to be performed away from
the customer.
India
emerged as one of the prime beneficiaries of these global
developments. During 2000-04, the offshore IT and BPO industries
contributed 90% of the absolute growth in foreign exchange
inflows under service industries, said CMIE. According to
Nasscom-McKinsey Study 2005, if we maintain the current global
leadership level in IT and BPO industries, our offshoring
industries could, by 2010, well become one of the worlds great
export industries at par with France's luxury goods industry
or Japan's automotive sector. But to maintain the growth momentum,
the report says that "India will need a 2.3 million strong
IT and BPO workforce by 2010." The report, on the downside,
warns that India will encounter a potential shortage of skilled
workers in the next decade or so. According to the report,
only 25% of technical graduates and 10% to 15% of general
college graduates were suitable for employment in the offshore
IT and BPO industries respectively. |
