Indian BPO industry can no longer rely on low-end services

Indian BPO industry can no longer rely on low-end servicesIndian business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will be best suited to offer high-end services as low-end services have become unsustainable, most experts who attended the software industry lobby body Nasscom’s annual BPO summit said.

India once enjoyed labour arbitrage but now many countries like Philippines are offering call centre services at a cheaper cost. The advent of cloud computing, and a fall in spending on technology due to the persistent global economic slowdown have also made low-end work unsustainable for Indian companies.

The Philippines BPO industry has already surpassed Indian BPO industry in terms of “voice” revenue, while China is fast emerging as a stern contender.

Roopa Kudva, managing director of CRISIL, said that high-end services would be best suited for the $16 billion Indian BPO industry. Speaking on the topic, she added, “India will have to find its own niche, though it will be a bigger niche.”

Gaurav Gupta, a partner at the Indian unit of A. T. Kearney, said the Indian BPO companies are still doing a plenty of low-end work, but admitted that margin were eroding, and that the trend would slowly change.

Currently, India enjoys 37 per cent share of the world’s total BPO business and a majority of experts are of the view that India will keep on enjoying the biggest share of market, but most of them also agree that the country can no longer depend solely on the low-hanging work.