Obama no threat to BPO business

The Indian outsourcing industry has no cause for concern from the landslide victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential polls as the Democrats are unlikely to come in the way of the global offshoring process, says Nasscom President Ganesh Natarajan.

In an interview, the Nasscom chief has said that “We should not worry about any ban on outsourcing; it is just not going to happen. If at all, he might give incentives to job creation in America which we support and I don’t think that is going to add any adverse impact on Indian outsourcing.”

Natarajan said he was a firm believer of the fact that Wall Street would have a crucial role to play in deciding on the merits of outsourcing. Barack Obama wants to put jobs back into the US, but that does not necessarily mean stopping the trend of outsourcing because the main thrust is to revive the economy.

"Most of us were doing work for IT and BPO companies for Fortune 500 and are very integral to the value chain. So, he will do nothing that will disturb the success of these companies. At the same time, all of us have to realize that job creation must happen in United States and there will be different measures to take that up. I do not think anybody sensible like Obama will come in the way of current outsourcing," he said in the interview.

He also expressed the view that with Obama coming to power, there would be more opportunities for being a part of the efforts to strengthen the American economy. He also pooh-poohed the idea that American companies would be hit hard if Obama ends the tax breaks on companies that export jobs.

There are no specific tax breaks that a company gets in the US for doing work abroad so, at best Obama might give incentives to companies to retain jobs onshore, he said adding that the companies would continue to get jobs done wherever it makes more sense to have them done.