India top offshore destnation for half of IT firms in UK

Bangalore: Nearly 50 percent of IT firms in UK are open to offshoring, with India favoured as the top offshore destination, according to a study conducted by Contractor UK, a portal for IT contractors, and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).

The survey showed that of all the employers in the UK that had plans to offshore jobs, only a fifth of the total were manufacturers. On the contrary, about 44 percent stemmed from the computing and IT industries.

Indias IT industry body NASSCOM said at a major IT conference that it expects a whopping 150,000 IT jobs to be created in 2010. This is despite warnings of a slow recovery in other sectors. According to NASSCOM, Indias healthcare, retail and utility industries are picking up pace at a rapid rate - almost thrice as fast as core markets. This is an indication that these sectors will be quick to create IT jobs.

Analysts at TechMarketView commented that western IT firms are scurrying to get a piece of the Asian pie after India has dominated the outsourcing landscape for two decades. Chairman of Dell Services consulting wing, Jim Champy, said that Asian firms are likely to spend more money on IT outsourcing than Western counterparts. This translates to a reversal of the existing trend of more U.S. and European firms purchasing computer services than those in India.

UK IT services firm Steria has begun utilising the companys offshore services unit, after acquiring Xansa in order to tap Indias domestic market. Experts say that other Western majors are likely to follow so they too can tap into the growing appetite for IT outsourcing prevalent in the region.