The Hindu : India attractive destination for U.S. firms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 03, 2003

Business

Business

India attractive destination for U.S. firms

WASHINGTON MAY 2. The U.S. corporate chiefs find India the most "attractive'' destination for offshore business and in the next five years U.S. financial services companies plan to transfer half a million jobs to foreign nations, a study says.

According to the study by A T Kearney, top U.S. companies including General Electric, GE Capital, Citigroup and American Express have nearly 15,000 employees in India alone and plans to add another 5,000 by year-end. Corporate chiefs list India as the most attractive country overall for offshore business processing, followed by China, the Philippines, Canada, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Hungary and Russia.

While a company has to pay $20,000 to a call centre executive working in the U.S., the same work would cost just $2,500 if done in India, says the study. Similarly, a Wall Street researcher with a college business degree and a few years experience can earn as much as $250,000 a year in the U.S. compared to $20,000 in India.

By going off-shore, annual savings for the financial services industry alone is $30 billion, the study says. About 8 per cent of total industry employment would shift abroad in the next five years, it says. — PTI

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