The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Demography gives India an "edge in IT sector"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 25, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Demography gives India an "edge in IT sector"

Special Correspondent

Corporations looking beyond boundaries to set up global operations Corporations looking beyond boundaries to set up global operations

Photo: Vino John

ACHIEVERS' MOMENT: (From left) President and CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions N. Lakshmi Narayanan being felicitated by Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce director C. Sarat Chandran, at the inauguration of a workshop on outsourcing opportunities in Chennai on Friday. Chamber secretary P. Gopalakrishna is also seen.

CHENNAI: India's increasingly younger demographic profile — with nearly 60 per cent of its population being below 30 years — gives it a distinct advantage in the global outsourcing market as it provides for a large, educated workforce capable of meeting the brainpower demand of the global economy, president and CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions N. Lakshmi Narayanan, said on Friday.

The IT/BPO industry was upbeat about India's demographic growth, he said, inaugurating a workshop on "Outsourcing Opportunities (BPO and Call Centres) from Australia," organised by the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce.

Increasingly, corporations were looking beyond boundaries to set up international operations and extended enterprises were moving into the `24x7' mode.

Australia was a viable outsourcing market and BPOs were now looking beyond mere outsourcing.

The Australian BPO market was ripe for the picking, director of Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce C. Sarat Chandran, said.

Already, a large number of small and medium enterprises had moved to India in sectors such as financial services, computer-aided design, insurance claims and digitisation of textbooks.

Non-resident Indians in Australia were playing a large part in this boom, driven by a shortage of skilled manpower in Australia.

The chamber was receiving frequent enquiries for joint ventures and collaborations from Australian firms, he said.

Managing director of ANZ Information Technology Pvt Limited Fred Bertram, and head of performance, management and strategy of Repcol India Limited Ambika Krishnan, spoke.

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