Availability of suitable human resources is one of those factors which have made India one of the hotspots of Outsourcing/IT industry. India is home to a vast pool of human resources consisting of educated, English speaking, tech-savvy personnel. Every year, approximately 19 million students are enrolled in high schools and 10 million students in pre-graduate degree courses across India. Moreover, 2.1 million graduates and 0.3 million post-graduates pass out of India's non-engineering colleges. These figures very well give the idea of human resources availability in India.
This great pool of human resources holds the key to IT/Outsourcing destination i.e. India. If the flow from high schools to graduate courses increases even marginally, there will be a massive increase in the number of skilled workers available to the IT/Outsourcing industry. If we calculate the availability of human resources at current rates, there will approximately be 25 million people available to the IT industry in the next 10 years.
India definitely enjoys the benefits of a vast pool of skilled workers who are proficient in English language. India produces the largest number of graduates every year and most of these graduates have the knowledge of English language. Thus, language is one of those factors which attract MNCs to contract out their business operations to Indian Outsourcers and IT companies. Though there are competitors like China which also have a large pool of skilled workers but they don't have enough graduates who have command over English language.
In addition to this the Indian education system also places strong emphasis on mathematics and science. This has resulted into a large number of science and engineering graduates. Mastery over quantitative concepts coupled with English proficiency makes India one of the hot spots of the IT/Outsourcing word. It has enabled the India to take advantage of the current international demand for IT.
In term of human resources, there are a number of countries who are at an advantageous position but the real difference between them and India is of quality man power. In the field of information technology and computer software India experts have proved their worth beyond doubt. India is rich not only in terms of number of qualified people but the quality of our professionals is also of international level.
Indian programmers are known for their strong technical skills and their eagerness to accommodate and engage clients. In some cases, clients outsource work to get access to more specialized engineering talent, particularly in the area of telecommunications. Expertise in English language is also a great strength of India and it has definitely helped India in increasing its manpower quality.
Improved infrastructure is another important factor which has helped India to achieve tremendous success in the field of IT/Outsourcing. There has been tremendous growth and improvement in telecom, power and roads infrastructure in the last few years in India.
Relevant telecom facilities are an important precondition for the success of the software and Outsourcing industry. The Indian government has taken numerous steps to improve the telecom infrastructure in the country. The international bandwidth situation has improved dramatically over the last 3 years. The privatization of the telecom Industry has resulted not only in significant drop in rates but also better services. The telecom costs have dropped by about 85% in 3 years.
Similar changes have been observed in the power sector infrastructure as well. Power availability has also improved dramatically over the last few years. This has gone a long way in ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the IT/Outsourcing destinations like Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Bombay, Pune and Calcutta. In addition to this state governments in India have undertaken reforms in the power sector to improve power supply to ITES companies.
The overall roads and highways infrastructure scenario in India has also witnessed major improvements over the last few years. We have now entered the arena of multi lane highways. Most of the cities and towns are connected and interlinked to each other. Major investments have gone into the development of highways, both on the side of the central and state Governments.
Cost effective man power is yet another important factor which makes India a hot spot of IT/Outsourcing industry. With a vast pool of skilled human resources ready to work at lower wages in comparison to the European or American countries India is attracting business process outsourcing. In a call interaction center operation, manpower typically accounts for 55 to 60 percent of the total cost. Besides being cost effective, Indians are also skilled and fulfill all the requirements of the IT/Outsourcing industry.
India has an 8-12 hour time zone difference with respect to the US and other developed markets. It is of great advantage in Outsourcing operations, which offers reduced turnaround times, since processing services are performed at night hours in the developed countries. India is able to offer a 24x7 services and reduction in turnaround times by leveraging time zone differences. This difference in time zone is because of India's unique geographic location. When it is day in India, it is night in America and even as we go to bed, they rise and go to work. This time difference has been intelligently brought to their advantage by the Outsourcing companies.
Most of the Outsourcing servicing American customers have timings between 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. This time zone difference benefits not only the Americans but also the Indians. Not only does the time difference allow Indian companies/BPOs/Call centers to service American clients by working in the nights, it also helps in better utilization of their resources. The companies can utilize the same resources to serve other clients in India and abroad during the day. Thus the time zone difference also helps in sharing of resources which, in turn, saves costs and also earns Outsourcers better revenues.