The sleeping Indian giant is waking up

In this article we consider the subject of outsourcing and the changing dynamics of world power. The Indian giant, once ravished by poverty and a lack of direction is now waking up and beginning to realize it's potential. Whilst India is still a third world country, the world, with good reasons is looking east.

Despite its poverty, India has two critical factors that could one day make it a world power. The first is India's strong education institutions and cultural affinity for education. More than any other country in the world, India has experienced brain drain for decades and for the past decade has been the world's number one outsourcing destination. This is a tribute to India's educational institutions. Secondly, India has a huge population which when combined with its education intuitions make the country a potent force.

Outsourcing enables the US to not only tap into India's vast pool of talented individuals, but it also places US companies on a level playing field with Indian companies and other foreign outsourcing companies. The statistics on India are alarming, (and hence it is hardly surprising so many firms are outsourcing to India). Were US companies to stop outsourcing, they would not have at their disposal but would have to compete against:

• India produces 3.1 million graduates a year. A number that will continue to rise rapidly as the Indian economy continues to grow.
• A country with a demographic of 54% of its population under the age of 25. This amounts to approximately 550 million young people.
• 75,000 Indian studies go to US universities each year. The number of Indian students with degrees from North American and European universities is even higher than this figure. Hence, the number of Indians in India with degrees from North American and European universities alone is considerable.
• India adds 350,000 engineering graduates to its ranks annually.

The saying,"you are either with us or against us" comes to mind. The US must either harbor India's low costing talent to its advantage or the US will come under direct competition with India and other foreign companies which utilize outsourcing. We must accept that in one respect India has an advantage over the US. Whilst both the US and India have a vast pool of talent, the latter's comes at a much lower cost. Only once we acknowledge that India does have an advantage over the US in terms of cost, can we only then deduce the best way to counter this competition. The best counter measures against this threat, is of course through outsourcing.

50% of Fortune 500 companies are outsourcing just software alone to India. That the most successful companies in the world are outsourcing to India, is ample evidence that India posses world renowned technical talent. Don't compete with the giant, work with the giant…embrace outsourcing for the advantages is provides US firms and thus the US economy.