A2X Consulting

Posted by A.R.Ramachandran

An article published in Economic Times in 2006 predicted that global layoffs in the next few years will benefit India, but how?

Yes, Indian IT will benefit with a bigger talent pool available for recruitment. Already, bigger companies are recruiting from abroad and now more of them will be available. But will Indian IT benefit otherwise, specifically in outsourcing?

All the companies quoted in the article –INTEL, IBM, Sony, CA and Sun Microsystem – cannot solve their problems merely by better cost control or better Project Management. There are other, deeper problems – INTEL due to technology, CA due to financial irregularities and rank unethical top management, Sun, IBM and Sony with a host of problems on which one finds it difficult to lay a finger on what specifically is wrong with them. It is premature to believe that the business that was once theirs will now come to India. Much of it is hi- tech work that doesnt fit into the current paradigm of the Indian outsourcing industry.

Look at it the other way round. Are global layoffs the portents of things to come in India? With a better integration with world markets – just as recent stock movements have so clearly revealed – is it a signal for what the techies in India can expect down the line?