The Hindu : Business : IT sector greets Bush's re-election

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

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Business

IT sector greets Bush's re-election

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 4. The re-election of George Bush as President of the U.S. has ended the brief period of uncertainty for the Indian IT industry. Mr. Bush's rival John Kerry's protectionist promises that included ending the outflow of call centre and software development business from the U.S. to other countries had made the Indian industry, one of the biggest beneficiaries of this relocation, apprehensive.

While welcoming the re-election of Mr. Bush, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) noted the heavy dependence of the Indian software sector on the U.S. (Software exports to the U.S. from India account for 68 per cent of total software exports and have been growing at around 30 per cent a year). "We are confident that with Mr. Bush getting re-elected, the growth momentum will continue,'' said the Nasscom President, Kiran Karnik. He further said Mr. Bush's track record during his presidential tenure had proven that he was a proponent of free trade.

He had declared earlier during his administration that India was a strategic partner of the U.S. and the two countries were now working on the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) initiative.

"We are confident that President Bush will continue with his pro-trade stance during his second term as U. S. President. We do expect that policy makers within President Bush's administration will take cognisance of `business economics,' as they have done earlier.'' Research reports by various think tanks and academic institutions in the U.S. have already shown that the U.S. economy gains by offshoring work and job loss, if any, due to outsourcing from the U.S. is very small. "We also hope that the Bush administration will be supportive of visa issues, so that there is unhindered movement of professionals, who play a key role in contributing to the growth and development of the U.S. economy,'' Mr. Karnik added. The Nasscom was convinced that Mr. Bush would continue to work towards building an enhanced and comprehensive trade relationship with India.

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Mahender K. Sanghi, also said the domestic BPO industry would not only continue to flourish as usual but also pick up an increased momentum under the new U.S. administration headed by Mr. Bush. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) hoped that Mr. Bush would now be able to pilot the proposed free trade agreement in the services sector. It would boost India's outsourcing and could relax visa restrictions on the movement of Indian engineers, software programmers, scientists, accountants and other professionals to the U.S.

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