As long as we have maids in our house US will continue to outsource to India

The first thought that comes to your mind what the hell has a maid got to do with outsourcing of work from US to India, well my friend there is. Before I put across my views in greater detail will just share a fact file, The software industry generates over 1.4 million direct employment across India, contributes roughly over 5 % to the GDP(gross domestic product) and not to forget makes India visible on the world map.

Now about the maid and her connection with outsourcing. how long our houses have had maids??? I am sure your grandmother had it, probably your grand - grand mother had it , so did your mom and I m sure you along with your spouse will have it too. Well the point to be noticed is the need of a maid will always persist like it always has cause at the end of the day she makes our lives easier. The fact that we actually outsourced a part of our household responsibilities would have probably never hit us. We quickly realized the importance of outsourcing monotonous and low end work, starting with bottom of the ladder getting our floors swept and dishes washed. As times passed we continued to out source more and more. Today a maid has a wide range of work right from a cleaner to a nanny for your young child. With more number of women entering the corporate world, the importance of the maid grew manifold. You will surprised to know often people base there decisions of taking a home in a metropolitan city based on the concentration and availability of good maids, the smarter lot of the maids command premium pricing as the demand for maids increased and the supply suddenly ran out. How does this connects to the Indian outsourcing story read on..........


Well the first time the developed countries outsourced it was because of there unwillingness of doing work that they considered low end or monotonous. Started with low end IT work(maintenance, contact center etc) to third world nations. The significant advantage for India at that time was the availability of a english speaking workforce (one of the few things we can thank the British for) and thankfully Indians were quick to take advantage. after the y2k they realized there was more to India and started out sourcing ' not so critical' work to India terming them as IDC (Indian development center). and the surge in outsourcing continued (the similarities how the maid became a cook and nanny and the increased outsourcing are striking.......

Today almost every leading innovators has a R&D center in India acknowledging the talent and potential of Indian youth. But in order to continue the growth story the emphasis should be a mix strategy which provides employment to the masses and also makes India an Innovation house. True the propping up of new outsourcing destination like China and Philippines have put across a few challenges but India has the first mover advantage and our veteran in this field, all we need is to create a differentiator between us and the others. A wave of innovation is the need of the hour.

In the end how I see it, The Indian outsourcing story is intact cause in the end recession or no recession we all need maids...[:)].