NEW YORK: As part of the initiative, the government has decided to give subsidies to encourage business process outsourcing companies to locate within Karnataka, Vivek Kulkarni, secretary (IT) of the state, told a business meet here. Nasdaq Stock Exchange and the Karnataka government, in collaboration with the Asia Society, sponsored the Karnataka Road Show, held here last weekend, on IT, business process outsourcing (BPO) and biotechnology. BPO means delegating IT-enabled business process of a company to a third party who owns, administers and manages a wide range of processes such as human resources, finance and accounting, supply chain management and customer care. India is positioned to be a global player for providing offshore business process outsourcing services as the demand for such services grow in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, according to IT consultancy firm Gartner. Gartner has predicted that worldwide BPO services will grow from $119 billion in 2000 to $234 billion in 2005. Some Asia Pacific countries, especially India and the Philippines, are well placed to capitalise on the opportunities. The road show featured presentations on the world-class infrastructure, facilities and multi-national companies currently located in Karnataka. "This event has been instrumental in raising the awareness among U.S. business leaders about the tremendous opportunities available to BPO companies and other technology firms in Karnataka," said Kulkarni. Judy List, senior vice president of KPMG Consulting, Michael Clark, executive director of U.S. India Business Council, Rohit Desai, trustee, Asia Society, and Ashok Tomar, deputy consul general in the Indian embassy in New York, took part in the show. Several executives from Indian software companies also attended the event. List of KPMG said nearly 50 percent of the world's SEI-CMM Level 5 companies had facilities in Bangalore. In private meetings with senior U.S. executives, Kulkarni extended invitations to U.S. firms to set up operations in Karnataka.
Source: IANS