BPO is cool & nanotech will be in: Friedman

Bangalore is making its impact on the US economy and how! Pulitzer prize winning journalist and celebrated New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman says the US is getting used to being Banglore-d. But he warns that the political backlash on outsourcing could resurface should the US economy slow down. Friedman says all this and more in his second book, 'The World is Flat.' He was in India to release his book.

The men and women, across India's call centres, BPOs and technology campuses are a crucial part of Thomas Friedman's globalisation story. Friedman affirms that the perception that Indians are stealing local jobs that was prevalent a little earlier in the day, is no longer raising hackles back home. Atleast for now, the heat's off outsourcing thanks to a robust US economy, new domestic jobs and a better informed public.

Friedman told CNBC-TV18, "People are understanding that companies that outsource, use incomes that they save to grow jobs in other ways. But if we did get a retrenchment in our economy, it could come back as a political issue."

Friedman admits that the world was getting flatter even before the subject of outsourcing derailed US Decmocratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign. In his second book, he outlines the fall of the Berlin wall, the launch of Netscape - the world's first commercial browser, the internet, the resultant dotcom boom and a trillion dollar investment in fibre optic cable as some of the drivers of globalisation.

Nanotechnology, he says, will be the next big trend. "The eleventh flattener will be nanotechnology. We're going from large to medium to small to nano. What that'll be about, I have no idea." He added, "India's value-addition in the biotech sector should hold it in good stead."

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer did not play the typical role of the chief guest, polite and approving. He picked holes in Friedman's globalisation thesis and gave it an Indian twist. He pointed out that globalisation began not when Christopher Columbus lost his way, as the author argued, but thousands of years ago before even Alexander the Great's adventures.

Aiyer went on to talk about globalisation and the White House style of functioning wasn't spared either, with the audience being reminded of George W Bush's unwillingness to liberalise the American farm sector. Apparently, preaching to the rest of the world, while protecting an extremely influential lobby and vote-bank is what the US President does well. But India and China for that matter, are constantly pressured to open up sectors like media, retail or textiles.

Friedman may want to explore this hypocrisy in a future book.