Now, India a hub for design outsourcing soc.culture.indian, sci.research.careers, soc.culture.bangladesh

Byas Anand 24 Jul, 2006 0244hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK

NEW DELHI: In a small basement office in south Delhi, some 20 designers are busy sketching the outlines of new product lines for global giants the likes of Whirlpool and Reckitt Benckiser and, in the process, redesigning the face of outsourcing in India.

"While some of these products are being designed with the Indian consumer in mind, a major chunk is for the global audience," says a 20-something designer, working on a new washing machine design.

Offshoring of jobs to India which started off with call-centres and back-office jobs like accounting has today spread to include high-end product design work and even packaging and graphic designs. As manufacturers look at reducing costs and product development cycles, India is fast emerging as the new-age design board for MNCs.

The result: MNCs like Whirlpool, GE, LG, Philips and Bosch are setting up research and design centres in India. And some others like Reckitt are offshoring design work to Indian design houses.

"Outsourcing design jobs to India started in a small way, but is going to be big. This is the latest trend in the world of manufacturing. A product is today conceived in the US, designed in India, manufactured in China and sold in markets across the globe," says Anuj Prasad, chief designer at Delhi-based Desmania Design.

While consumer electronics manufacturers and FMCG firms lead the pack in outsourcing design work to India, Prasad says a growing number of multinationals are fast waking up to the potential of this market.

The expertise of Indian designers in 3D modeling and plant engineering in sectors like aerospace, automotive and industrial design has already caught the attention of leading companies from both Europe and America.

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