Sending software coding and business process jobs out to India have improved employment figures in the United States, says an Indian IT association.



Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) said it wanted to tell its side of the story by “placing the facts and figures in perspective.”



Citing statistics from market research firms such as McKinsey, the body said the United States stands to save over $300 billion over the next six years by shifting some business operations overseas.

“The ITES (IT Enabled Services) /BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) market is likely to touch $142 billion in 2009, against the current cost of $532 billion for these services. The difference of $390 billion represents the net saving the U.S. economy can expect from outsourcing,” Nasscom says.

According to a recent report from IT analyst Gartner, India will gain the most from this wave and is expected to soak up more than half the world’s offshore business outsourcing revenue this year. India’s revenue from BPO will grow from slightly under $1 billion in 2002 to $1.2 billion in 2003 and will represent 66 percent of the offshore BPO market, Gartner predicted.



“US banks, financial services and insurance companies have saved $6 billion to $8 billion in the past four years owing to IT outsourcing to India,” Nasscom claimed. “Helped by these savings, companies have prevented layoffs and instead added 125,000 more jobs.”



This revelation is expected to add more fuel to the debate on the impact of outsourcing to local economies and the workforce.



Labor groups in the US have long protested the trend of offshore outsourcing. Besides fears of job losses in the US, they have questioned the skill levels of foreign IT workers. In the longer term, they fear the move will also erode the country’s technological leadership.
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