Going Local

A case of reverse offshoring, a growing number of Indian IT companies

opening centres overseas have resorted to hiring local

workers. With countries (read USA) blaming American companies of moving

jobs to India, the decision to hire local workers overseas comes as a

welcome move. Political consideration appears to have played a role in

taking this decision. Companies are also looking to expand in US, one

of the key markets in anticipation of their business picking up. US

Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Grassley introduced a legislation

that barred firms from hiring guest workers if they laid off 50 or more

local workers. Also, some Indian IT services companies have also been

blamed

for misusing H1B visa for replacing American workers.






Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) one of India's largest outsourcer has
expanded its business alliance with Michigan-based The Dow Chemical

Company, including setting up a services facility near the

company‘s global headquarters in Midland, Michigan.

 In addition, the company also expanded a software services

delivery center in the Cincinnati suburb of Milford, Ohio. Under the

alliance, Dow and TCS also announced plans to set-up a new strategic

services center near the site of Dow’s global headquarters in

Midland, Michigan.






What’s more, plans are afoot to begin construction on a new
facility next year, with the first phase of the build-out designed to

accommodate 1,250 employees. This facility besides creating new jobs

would also support the local economy. In addition, TCS plans to expand

its service offerings beyond Dow in the future, creating a service

valley in central Michigan. The Dow-TCS alliance would provide

operational capabilities – including wide range of

capabilities from supply chain scheduling and planning, invoicing and

data management, to accounts receivable and payables. In future, the

tie-up would support a global network of service centers, including

strategic centers in Midland and Mumbai, India; plus satellite centers

in Shanghai, China; Terneuzen, The Netherlands and Sao Paulo, Brazil.






Following TCS, Wipro Technologies, the IT services arm of Wipro Limited
has also expanded its Atlanta development center for delivering

services and creating local jobs. The company’s Atlanta

development center has scaled up to 350 employees in the last nine

months with around 80 percent of the total headcount been hired locally

including alumni from  academic institutions in Atlanta like

Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and Georgia State

University; experienced professionals; and retired army personnel.

 






The employees would support the North American companies in areas like
health care, manufacturing, telecommunications, utilities, retail and

financial services sectors. Infosys BPO, the business process

outsourcing subsidiary of Infosys Technologies too has acquired

McCamish Systems, a BPO company in Atlanta focused on the insurance and

financial services market. One has to take into consideration that in

order to become global players, Indian companies will have to go local

in their approach taking cue from Japanese auto manufacturers who set

up factories globally.