Dr. Avnish Jolly, Chandigarh 5th Octuber, 2008:According to a recent study by Global Services India, home to six of the world’s top eight outsourcing hubs, continues to be a major global IT and BPO outsourcing destination amid a determined bid by the neighbouring China to give it a tough competition in the field, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune are the six Indian cities in the list of top eight outsourcing cities of the world, the media platform for global IT outsourcing and BPO industry and Tholons, a global investment advisory firm.
The other two cities are Dublin of Ireland and Mataki city, the Philippines, the survey adds. Commenting on the study, second such by Global Services, Company’s Editor Ed Nair stressed that even as new destinations emerge, old ones continue to grow. In fact, our list of top outsourcing cities has expanded from 5 in 2007 to 8 this year.
But China dominates the list of emerging cities for global outsourcing with Shanghai and Beijing leading the list along with Cebu City from The Philippines. The list of top 50 emerging cities for global outsourcing includes six from China Shanghai (2nd), Beijing (3rd), Shenzhen (10th), Dalian (16th), Guangzhou (23rd)and Chengdu (at 37th) and four from India, Kolkata holding 6th position, Chandigarh at 12th, Coimbatore (17th) and Jaipur at the 31st spot.
Jaipur along with Quezon City (The Philippines), Toronto (Canada), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Singapore City (Singapore), Chengdu (China), Guadalajara (Mexico) and Mandaluyong City (The Philippines) have entered the top 50 for the first time. Of these top 50 cities, 19 are from Asia and 13 from Central and Eastern Europe.
The top entries from Asia, the survey says, are Cebu City, Shanghai, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Kolkata and Shenzhen while those from Central and Eastern Europe include Krakow (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), and Budapest (Hungary).
Shanghai is already known as a mature destination for providing offerings such as F&A, product development, R&D and testing, and Guangzhou is known for engineering-services, the study says. Shenzhen and Shanghai are now also offering services like application development and maintenance and business analytics. Consequently, China has become home to numerous IT and BPO services providers with global providers such as Accenture, Convergys, Infosys, IBM, TCS, Wipro Unisys and many others having their centres across the country.
However, six cities from the 2007 list – Perth (Australia), Baguio City (The Philippines), Leeds (UK), Birmingham (US), Oklahoma City (US), and Juarez (Mexico) – have not made it to the list this year, according to study. The study adds that to set up an outsourcing center the choice of the right city is more important than the choice of the country. Attributes of a city like available resources, quality and type of work force, cost, available infrastructure, and its long-term potential in fulfilling the demand for specific services determine its attractiveness as an outsourcing centre.
According to the survey, increasing competition in the global outsourcing will make the cities more focused towards identifying an appropriate service line and in developing their service-delivery capabilities.