Software outsourcing now employs 1 million in India

Software outsourcing now employs 1M in India buttociated Press

BANGALORE, India - India's export revenues from software outsourcing have exceeded targets and will reach $17.3 billion US in the fiscal year ending March 2005, the country's software trade body said Friday.

The total number of people employed in India's outsourcing industry has reached one million for the first time, the National buttociation of Software and Service Companies said.

"Our exports gained momentum this year with more companies realizing the value of global sourcing," the buttociation's president, Kiran Karnik, said in an interview.

In the year ended March 2004, India's software exports stood at $12.8 billion US and the industry employed 770,000 people.

When the current fiscal year began, India forecast revenues of $16 billion US from software exports for the period, given the backlash in the United States against outsourcing work to India and other developing nations.

"However, the anti-outsourcing wave has decreased, if not gone away fully. We managed to grow faster than our rivals like Ireland and Russia," Karnik said.

India's domestic market for the current fiscal year has been valued at $4.9 billion US, up from $3.9 billion US a year earlier.

The total annual value of India's software industry, including exports and local sales, is nearly one trillion rupees ($22.2 billion US).

Scores of western firms outsource software and engineering design, and back-office functions to companies in countries such as India where labour costs are lower.