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India diary: Epilogue... the final entry
A surprise election result and some closing thoughts...

By Andy McCue

Published: Wednesday 14 July 2004

silicon.com reporter Andy McCue was on assignment in India from 14 to 23 April investigating offshoring efforts in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and New Delhi. This is the final instalment of his diary. You can read the rest of his diary as well as articles and commentary on IT offshoring and BPO here.

A few weeks after my return to the UK from my fact-finding trip to the subcontinent, the results of the Indian election sent shockwaves throughout the country. India's poor and working classes, disillusioned by the lack of any the benefits of 'India Shining' trickling down to them, dumped the BJP and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee out of government in favour of the Congress Party.

Initially there were concerns about how this would affect the IT and offshore outsourcing/BPO sector in the country but the early indications are that the Congress alliance will continue to support the growth of the sector. You can read more about the consequences of the election result in a recent column by Paul Davies, author of What's this India business?.

My diary of the trip has covered the 10 days I spent visiting the cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and New Delhi in April this year. The aim is to give people some insight into the IT and offshore outsourcing sector in India beyond the usual market statistics and analysis, while putting it into some context of daily life and culture for Western business travellers working in the IT sector who may be visiting the country for the first time.

Some readers have complained there aren't enough details about each city, but this isn't meant to be a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet travel guide. And these diaries aren't meant to be a comprehensive analysis of the offshoring market – our special report features more specific in-depth pieces looking at the job loss argument, risk management, the IT offshore outsourcing market, India's telecoms infrastructure and India and alternative offshore locations.

As such, the diaries merely represent my account and observations as a business traveller dealing with all the good and bad of the sometimes frustrating yet rich culture that India has to offer. I toured the impressive high-tech campuses and call centres of both Indian and Western IT companies including ebookers, GE, Infosys and Wipro as well as saw the flip side of society in a slum village in Bangalore.

But several readers from India have responded to the diary pieces and raised some good points that I haven't yet touched upon. One is the long hours worked by Indian techies and the lack of any real labour laws or trade unions. With Indian facilities often serving customers around the world, most workers end up working long and unsocial shift patterns. Not only is this stressful but the time away from the family home is having a detrimental effect on some sections of society.

The high salaries for India graduates in IT and BPO also mean that people who would have otherwise become doctors and teachers are instead turning to the call centres and IT development centres because of the wages. If India is to remain the dominant offshore location and at the same time cope with its own internal economic issues then these are all problems the new Indian government and wider Indian society will have to address.

One final point is the issue of 'dry days', which caused much debate. I may have given the impression of being obsessed with finding alcohol but I was simply pointing out that the Sunday I was in Bangalore was a dry day forced by the electoral commission because the elections were starting the next day. Likewise for Hyderabad.

Ultimately, whatever your position, the offshore outsourcing debate is only set to get hotter. The economic realities of offshoring mean its growth is virtually unstoppable. That presents issues for everyone from the workers whose jobs will go abroad, to the CIOs justifying the move to their CEO, to the overseas countries emerging as favoured offshore locations. Our offshoring special report is about widening the debate and providing some insight into the realities of what is happening.