Do Believe the Hype - NYTimes.com

Do Believe the Hype - NYTimes.com: "India today is this unusual combination of a country with millions of people making $2 and $3 a day, but with a growing economy, an increasing amount of cheap connectivity and a rising number of skilled technologists looking to make their fortune by inventing low-cost solutions to every problem you can imagine. In the next decade, I predict, we will see some really disruptive business models coming out of here — to a neighborhood near you. If you thought the rate of change was fast thanks to the garage innovators of Silicon Valley, wait until the garages of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore get fully up to speed. I sure hope we’re ready"

Philipines to become world's Call centre capital :

"India, at one time, held a huge advantage as far as BPO services are concerned. This was primarily due to the low cost advantage that it enjoyed. Not just that, Indians were also considered good speakers of the English language. But the country has now lost its edge to Philippines, especially for voice based customer support. It is in fact believed that Philippines is set to become the call centre capital of the world. What had made the latter an attractive destination is that it has a much stronger affinity with the Americans, attrition rates are much lower than that in India and there are more tax incentives. Plus, the firms in the West themselves want to de-risk their revenues and not depend entirely on India. For instance, of India's total BPO exports, nearly 45% comes from voice-based work. This is expected to be around US$ 5.6 bn this year. However, the Philippines BPO industry will post almost US$ 5.7 bn of pure voice-based revenues in 2010, thereby overtaking India. US controls 65% of the world outsourcing market. Naturally, this is an important market for those dabbling in the BPO space. Although it may not be possible to wrestle the top slot from Philippines anytime soon, India will have to seriously find a long term solution to ensure that it does not entirely lose its edge in the BPO space."