Three separate analyses last week, together, tell a scary story: India’s comfortable monopoly in the outsourced, offshore services business, is being challenged. In certain niche areas, other destinations have already seized the pole position; while dozens of cities in often overlooked geographies have quietly raced passed so-called second tier business process outsourcing centres in India. In the news sections of this newsletter can be found reports of studies by industry watchers, Tholons and Gartner. Tholons ranks the top 100 outsourcing destinations in 2010: While Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai occupy the first three positions, Manila, Philippines is a strong challenger at number four, pipping Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.
In fact Tholons suggests that Manilla is the true “BPO Capital of the world”. A report in the December 6 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Philippines will earn $ 5.7 million this year from call-centre ( mostly voice based) work this year overtaking India’s $5.5 million billings, mainly because their young workforce speaks a more Americanized English than Indians.
The scary part of the Tholons report is the pathetic performance of India’s tier-2 towns: Kolkata is bettered by Colombo; Chandigarh ranks after Cairo and Coimbatore trails Prague and Budapest. Even more striking is the ranking of places like Thiruvananthapuram(67) and Mysore (91), two cities which never tire of tom-tom-ing their attractions to the IT fraternity: They are so down the list, that they are not serious contenders any longer. The attraction of India’s secondary cities is a myth perpetrated by state governments who wanted to forcefully spread the electoral goodies -- more jobs and a better quality of life -- that IT outsourcing brought to the tier one cities, to their vote banks in the rural hinterland. But global clients go where they get a good deal, not where selfish Indian politicians push them.

“Gartner's 30 Leading Locations for Offshore Services, 2010-2011", released in late December, concludes that while India is still the no. 1 destination for Offshore Services, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam are strong contenders. Serious challenge is close to home: Bangala Desh is rated “very good” in "costs". Sri Lanka is another interesting case – and a warning for India. Gartner assesses that country’s strengths as "government support", "infrastructure" and "political and economic environment”. See the irony! The country has been reeling under internal strife for over a decade. But less than a year after it said goodbye to all that, its IT industry has bounced back and independent experts speak of the political and economic climate as a plus point. Meanwhile in India which is allegedly an economic powerhouse, the industry faces hurdles placed by state and central governments alike… dilly dallying over continuing tax incentives; unkept promises about a steady energy supply and improved infrastructure….

The truth is the IT sector in India, has been working inspite of official neglect; aspiring contenders like Sri Lanka, China and Philippines succeed because of strong government backing.

I known for a fact that unknown to many even within the outsourced services industry in India, Sri Lanka has been scooping up a lot of high end work in the financial and insurance sector from European clients – and even outsourcing them to smaller Indian players to get the job done.

The message is clear. India had a clear run of the field for one decade. Now others are moving in, even as Indian services are becoming costlier, less competitive. For starters many of the contenders may be restricted to the call centre and customer care end of the business. But not for long. From Tunis to Taipei; from Panama to Perth, every city with the requisite talent is vying for a share of the outsourcing cake. We have to move up to more demanding, more skilled services – or get squashed by cheaper and ( yes!) better players. In technology nothing is permanent. It may not be the end. But it may already be the beginning of the end of the Indian outsourced services saga as we know it today.

Tholons Top 100 ( www.tholons100.com )
Gartner's 30 Leading Locations for Offshore Services, 2010-2011 http://www.gartner.com/resId=1491316  
Manila's Banter Beats Bangalore in $21 Billion Call-Center Race http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1377-adf5gWdXyaOM-2CJH6A3TGMEEG0LSS2B90QPKR3  

BanglaDesh, Sri Lanka, new challengers for India in BPO biz Tech watcher Gartner,  has identified the Top 30 countries for globally sourced activities in 2010-11, each one rated according to 10 criteria, and found that eight new countries have made their debut in the Top 30.  The leading emerging offshore locations evaluated by Gartner in the Asia/Pacific region are (in alphabetical order): Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. http://www.indiatechonline.com/gartner--375.php  

Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, head global outsourcing list; but 2nd tier cities lose out: Tholons. Advisory, Investments and Research Firm – Tholons has ranked the world’s top 100 outsourcing destinations, placing Bangalore, India at the head of its list, followed by Mumbai and Delhi. Manila, Philippines comes in as number four and is rated , "BPO Capital of the World",followed by Chennai and Hyderabad. Dublin, Ireland pips Pune for position # 7
Dataquest honours Indian IT's best and brightest.
http://www.indiatechonline.com/global-top-100-outsourcing-destinations-tholons-373.php

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India has issued a 148 page proposal that calls for the setting up of a new government entity to build a US$13.34 billion national fibre network that will total more than 2.5 million kilometres. (Sourced from CommsDay International  www.commsday.com.au  ) http://www.indiatechonline.com/trai-plan-for-india-broadband-374.php  

Tablets, big in India in 2011. The convergence of consumer, computer and communications is finally a reality thanks to Apple’s iPad and competing tablets, that are hitting the market , says US based tech monitor, iSuppli http://www.indiatechonline.com/tablet-pc-study-isuppli-371.php  
Dr Ajay Kumar, IAS moved to Delhi as Jt.Secy, IT Ministry http://www.indiatechonline.com/dr--ajay-kumar-new-jt-secy-it-goi-17.php Dataquest honours Indian IT's best and brightest http://www.indiatechonline.com/dqs-it-leader-awards-15.php  
Indian IT players showcase innovation at Salesforce.com meet in San Francisco http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=201  

Rural India is launch-pad for GE's affordable infant warmer One of the major contributors to death and illness in infants -- hypothermia, a reduction in core body temperature --will be addressed come March 2011, thanks to a partnership between GE Healthcare and voluntary organization, Embrace, which will be launched in India. http://www.indiatechonline.com/ge-healthcare--embrace-infant-warmer--372.php  
Links to the Top Ten Indian videos on YouTube in 2010 http://www.indiatechonline.com/youtubes-india-top-ten-2010-204.php  

Epson, has launched a Rs 14,000 photo printer in its all-in-one print-scan-copy lineup – the Epson Stylus Photo TX720WD. It is quite fast--producing up to 40 pages per minute (ppm) for both black and colour text and a 4 x 6 inch photo in 10 seconds. http://www.indiatechonline.com/epson-stylus-tx720wd-all-in-one-photo-printer-206.php  
Hello!This mouse makes your calls! Taiwan-based KYE Systems, makers of the Genius brand of computer peripherals have morphed the mouse into an Internet phone handset -- and Inspan Infotech has brought it to India at an affordable price. Rs 675 http://www.indiatechonline.com/genius-navigator-380-voip-mouse--69.php  
USB Print server:The Universal Serial Bus or USB continues to pop up in new computing scenarios to make life just a little easier for system integrators. The latest advance is from DIGISOL the networking brand of DigiLink, which has launched a very compact and easy-to-operate USB print server DG-PS1010Uin India. It integrates with a LAN using Ethernet or Fast Ethernet. The DG-PS1010U allows wired and wireless stations in your LAN to access and share a USB printer, no matter where they reside on the LAN. Rs 3000. http://www.indiatechonline.com/digisol-usb-print-server-70.php

Total no. of phones: 770 million
Mobiles  734 million ;  Landlines: 36 million  
Total no. of PCs: 40 million  
Internet accounts: 20  million  
Broadband: 10.13 million; Active Internet users:  100 million( mobile Internet 40 million)
NEW!  TAM Report: growth of digital TV in India: TV owning households in December 2010: 116 million ( out of 231 million). Digital TV owning: 29 million( sum of DTH and digital cable). In 2011, there will be 39 million digital TV homes in India. Link to data:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5973996/Users/DeepakU/g-digital.pdf    
India buys, India sells: eBay tracks the trends: eBay India has unveiled the eBay Census Guide which documents the key findings and trends in online buying and selling across Indians in the Top 20 eCommerce Hubs, 28 States and 7 Union Territories
http://www.indiatechonline.com/ebay-india-census-2010-71.php  

All the other India specific numbers in our exclusive industry snapshot: http://www.indiatechonline.com/snapshot.php  

Ubuntu Developer Day 9 (Canonical)
Bangalore Janurary 27 2011
Ubuntu Developer Day will be the largest event in Bangalore in 2011 that focuses on getting developers productive on the Ubuntu platform that is growing in popularity every day.
With keynote speeches from various members of the Canonical team, as well as hands-on technical sessions it is designed to deliver a great way for any developer to rapidly get up-to-speed on Ubuntu. 
www.Ubuntu.com/ubuntudeveloperday  
CONSEG-2011: International Conference on Software Engineering Bangalore, Feb 17 2011
Computer Society of India www.conseg2011.org  
ISA Vision Summit Bangalore, Feb 21-22 2011, Taj Westend Hotel 
The flagship annual event of the Indian Semiconductor Association. www.isaonline.org   
International World Wide Web conference Hyderabad, March 28 –Apr 1 2011, HICC 
The World Wide Web Conference is the de-facto platform for innovators to come together for designing and building the next wave of technologies for the Web. 
http://www.www2011india.com  
Global LPO Conference Buyers and sellers meet London March 2-3 , 2011 Hotel Marriott Grosvenor Square
An event to educate lawyers and general counsel in different ways. This event would address genuine transformation in the way in which legal services are delivered.
http://www.globallpoconference.com/uk/  
M-Commerce World Summit 2011 Singapore 6-7 April 2011
Mobile Money Transfer & Mobile Remittance, Mobile Payments & NFC Technologies, Mobile Banking,Banking the Unbanked & Microfinance Services, Mobile Marketing & Advertising
http://www.symphonyglobal.com/index.php/event/page/m-commerce_2011/overview  
Broadband World Forum Asia Kuala Lumpur Malyasia, 10—11 May 2011, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre 
Back by popular demand, the 6th Broadband World Forum Asia brings together 2500+ attendees from across the region making it the most respected event in the Asian telecoms calendar.Featuring an all new operator case study led programme, the event will be packed with deployment experiences from across the region and includes 150+ visionary speakers, 50+ sponsors and exhibitors and 50+ operator presentations and case studies. Broadband World Forum Asia will be co-located with the 7th Annual ip&tv Forum Asia, the region’s leading event connected IP and hybrid TV, making it the perfect place to network, meet customers and suppliers face to face and learn about new industry developments from some of the top companies in Asia.For your free exhibition pass or early booking conference discount please go to www.broadbandworldforum.com/asia  and quote VIP Code: BBWFA11ITO Eclipse Summit India Bangalore 24-25 May 2011 NIMHANS Centre
Asia’s largest ECLIPSE-only conference.
CommunicAsia 2011 Singapore, 21-24 June 2011, Marina Bay Sands 
Asia’s largest knowledge based ICT platform, comes to a new venue in Singapore this time. CommunicAsia2011 will feature key and emerging technologies from backhaul network, systems integration to software and applications to the end users. EnterpriseIT2011, held in conjunction with CommunicAsia2011 and BroadcastAsia2011. http://www.communicasia.com/the-event   
  
Are you organising an upcoming conference or trade show in the Middle East/Asia/Pac region that will interest the Indian infotech community? Send us the details in a mail to feedback@indiatechonline.com   with Event Watch in the subject line and we will be happy to feature it in this section. 

Goddess Lakshmi, sporting iPod, Blackberry?
A year end smile from Outlook mag’s cover this week http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=204  

POSTED 2010-12-26

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