Indian BPO
Industry has grown despite the global economic crisis, as evident from
country's exports of the BPO sector which are expected to reach USD 17.8
billion in 2012-13 from USD 12.4 billion in FY 2010. According to NASSCOM, the
Indian BPO sector still holds the global leadership position with 37% of the
world's BPO market compared to 34% in 2009, despite the fact the voice based
offerings have moved to Philippines and BPO revenues of Philippines are also on
the rise. The global BPO sourcing market
has grown from USD 36-38 billion in 2009 to USD 48-50 billion in 2012. But the
Indian BPO industry has lost its advantage and in the
last five years, India has lost 10% share of the world's BPO (business process
outsourcing) market to countries such as China, Philippines and Brazil. Not
only these three countries, countries like Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico,
Chile, Columbia, Poland and Ireland are emerging as attractive destinations for
voice contracts, which is also concern for Indian Industry but Indian Vendors
have also setup their offices in almost all of the above mentioned nations
baring a few like Morocco, Egypt and Columbia.
Indian BPO Industry has
transformed from BPO to business process management
(BPM) – from the basic voice services to cost cutting to finally delivering
value based services that have significant impact on the client businesses and
this has picked up since the year 2009. Indian BPO vendors are looking at
products, platforms, social media, Analytics and Consulting projects for
increasing their revenues and profitability and most of these are nonlinear
revenues which mean the revenues are not directly linked to increase in
headcounts. Non Linear revenues, outcome based pricing and projects that are of
high in revenues and margins, are necessary for Indian vendors to survive in
the market and for this and are setting up of multi-delivery centers, niche
vertical offerings and end-to-end solutions using cloud, big data and analytics
for their clients. The Indian BPO industry is well prepared for the tough
market conditions and volatile economic conditions that are expected to
continue in the current year. Indian BPOs are acquiring the companies that are
specialized and having niche skills particularly related to healthcare
outsourcing, analytics, cloud computing and big data.
Leading
players in Indian BPO industry like Genpact, TCS BPO, WNS, Infosys BPO, HCL
Tech, Wipro BPO and Cognizant BPO have all acquired companies in the past few
years with only aim of acquiring new skills, technologies and capabilities so that they can improve their product and
service offerings to their clients. Not only acquiring companies the Indian BPO
vendors have also realigned their management and organization structures
focusing on key vertical industry segments so that they can service their
clients in a better manner and increase their revenues and margins. Government
of India is also encouraging the BPO sector by extending several incentives to
increase the IT-ITES/BPO export revenue. Under the software technology parks
(STP) scheme, IT-ITES/BPO units are eligible for various tax benefits such as
customs duty exemption on imported goods, reimbursement of central sales tax
and excise duty exemptions on procurement of indigenously manufactured goods.
The Department of Commerce has notified 235 IT-ITES specific special economic
zones. Currently, the SEZ units are eligible for tax benefits as per Section
10AA of the Income Tax Act for a period of 15 years in a phased manner. NASSCOM
2020 vision report also highlights the industry has a vision to garner revenues
of $300 billion in seven years, up from $108 billion in 2012, and this growth
will also imply heavy job creation.
