India unveils $30 laptop

[Admin Khan]

Well I am an IT engineer like countless other Indians. But I moved away from the field when I went in for my MBA. Now a days my field of work is general consultancy for corporates.

A lot of companies have out-sourced to India. Its an interesting technological shift, I heard India has its own little Silicon valley growing.

[spogmai shaglay]

Khalsawarrior... saw this in the paper day before yesterday.....realeased by Kapil Sibal... our education minister...looks and sounds great....will haveto see how it willbe in the long run....

[rakshak]

Great! Hopefully it won't end up like another project from the GoI

[KhalsaWarrior]

A lot of companies have out-sourced to India. Its an interesting technological shift, I heard India has its own little Silicon valley growing.

Yeah u bet. Areas like Bangalore, Hyderabad in the South. Pune in the West and now Gurgaon (a Delhi suburb) in the North are hubs of IT companies in India. Take my case for eg. I went to Canada to work for a US company, but a couple of years later they sent me back to Gurgaon to work with the new India office team like many other US office folks. Of course it worked out better for me, as I was closer to home.

[KhalsaWarrior]

Khalsawarrior... saw this in the paper day before yesterday.....realeased by Kapil Sibal... our education minister...looks and sounds great....will haveto see how it willbe in the long run....

I know man. If you ask me, they best transfer the rest of the process to a private company. HCL which is into hardware can probably do a better job than any govy. agency.

[spogmai shaglay]

I know man. If you ask me, they best transfer the rest of the process to a private company. HCL which is into hardware can probably do a better job than any govy. agency.

True....we know our government better than anybody else or even better than the government itself...

[Admin Khan]

Yeah u bet. Areas like Bangalore, Hyderabad in the South. Pune in the West and now Gurgaon (a Delhi suburb) in the North are hubs of IT companies in India. Take my case for eg. I went to Canada to work for a US company, but a couple of years later they sent me back to Gurgaon to work with the new India office team like many other US office folks. Of course it worked out better for me, as I was closer to home.

Its great for the Indian economy but sometimes those call-centers in countries like Philippines really make our lives difficult in the west.

I remember they were opening call-centers in Karachi as well. They were trying to do fraudulent schemes though such as calling random Americans and telling them, "Hey you just won the lottery etc".

[eusuphxai]

at this price they don't need marketing or packaging it will sell like hot cakes, I hope humans can bring cost of other basic things down too, medicine one of them.

[spogmai shaglay]

at this price they don't need marketing or packaging it will sell like hot cakes, I hope humans can bring cost of other basic things down too, medicine one of them.

Medicine is way too far... things required for survival, for every day need.. the inflation rate in india is 100% when compared to last year....

[eusuphxai]

Medicine's price has been decreasing in the last decade.

I am not just talking about india, also a lot more can be done, like women still die at child birth in 21st century

[KhalsaWarrior]

Its great for the Indian economy but sometimes those call-centers in countries like Philippines really make our lives difficult in the west.

I remember they were opening call-centers in Karachi as well. They were trying to do fraudulent schemes though such as calling random Americans and telling them, "Hey you just won the lottery etc".

I know what you mean. There are a lot of call-centers in India. But call-centers and BPOs are just one part of the Indian IT industry. Though the call-centers were the first jobs that came to India, it soon expanded and now software and other related industries are ruling the roost. Companies like TCS, HCL, Infosys and Mahindra Satyam bring billions of dollars worth of IT contracts home. And you must have seen the Mahindra Satyam boundary advertising boards during the recent football WC.

[KhalsaWarrior]

Khalsa how strong is the Indian IT industry vis a vis Pakistan?

I dont think it will be a fair comparison, my friend. While I dont have data on Pakistan IT industry, I do know that the Indian IT industry is older, larger and more advanced than the Pakistani IT industry. Indian IT industry generates about $70 Bn in annual revenues and employs more than 2.5 million people. You can read more about it below-

Information technology in India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KW

[Admin Khan]

[KhalsaWarrior]

I am against outsourcing to India because its taking our jobs in the west and giving it to the Indians who do it for less of the money.

Its actually helping the western economy if they outsource to India. That way the companies manage to stay afloat in tough times like the recession. Outsourcing saves them major costs. If they'd continue to keep everything in house, in the US they will run huge losses and many companies would be in danger of going bust. And its not just about the cost. There is always a quality aspect to it. No country would compromise on quality beyond an extent to save on costs as that will hurt its image.

And outsourcing is fact. And it will continue to increase. Ever wondered why Outsourcing and American jobs are a major issue in every US presidential poll but no tough law is ever introduced to curb it? Its because of the corporate lobby. And the corporate lobby supports it because of the reasons I mentioned above.

The better, faster and the cheaper would always win. Thats a fact in the global economy irrespective of the location.

[KhalsaWarrior]

I disagree Khalsawarrior, How is it helping the economy if unemployment rises?

The unemployment is increasing for those people that are semi-skilled or are employed in jobs that doesnt require specialized skill. In the long run, such a concentration of skill will help the society and economy to specialize in high-end and potentially higher value generating jobs. economies like Japan are similar highly-skilled economies.

Secondly, as I mentioned in my earlier post. Outsourcing helps western countries stay competitive by savings costs. For eg. Company A employing 10,000 people decides to outsources 200 jobs to help save costs. These costs that are saved will help keep the company stay afloat and ensure the jobs of rest of the 9800 people.

The key issue for companies here is competition. What would you rather have? A company like GE that outsources 10,000 jobs to India and employs 40,000 in the US and manages to prosper for 30 years or another company that employs 50,000 people in the US but cant fight off price-based competition and goes bankrupt in 5-8 years? I think any right-minded individual would prefer the former.