Why Outsource Data processing and Software development to India? Just as the Gulf has its natural resources in crude oil and South Africa in diamonds, India's natural resource lie in its abundant technically skilled manpower. India is the world's second largest exporter of software (after the U.S.), and is the source of management and technical talent for over 40 per cent of new start-ups in Silicon Valley. Thanks to its large English-speaking scientific and higher education institutions, specialist computer institutes, and low costs of software talent, India has more software companies with ISO 9000 certification than any other country in the world.

There is more than enough evidence of the superlative role that Indians play in the progress of the Net. The impact of India's success abroad is also being felt. The stars of the Indian Internet industry are the Web solutions and Webware companies, many of whom have made the transition from offshore turnkey and services companies to full-fledged e-commerce service providers and Web strategy consultants. IT heavyweights like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Compaq always feature India prominently in their itineraries.

Benefits of Outsourcing in India

• India offers many advantages that make it the favourite of 82 percent of US software export market
• Large pool of computer literate and English speaking professionals
• Well recognized Information technology skills
• Wide gap between personnel costs in India and developed countries
• Work practices largely comply with ISO and SEI CMM standards. Three out of every four SEI-CMM 5 companies worldwide are located in India
• Quality standards meet the approval of the world. India exports software to more than 95 countries
• India has a stable political environment and pro-IT government
• Reliable satellite and submarine communication links facilitate good broadband connectivity with the rest of the world

According to the National Association of Software & Service Companies, the Indian software industry lobby, almost half the Fortune 500 companies now use Indian Software services. With over 4 million highly trained English speaking technical personnel (second only to the USA), heavy government support and leading world class software companies, India is set to become the software giant of the new Millennium. Furthermore, a World Bank funded study in the United States confirmed that vendors rated India as their number one choice for outsourcing. Other industry sectors have benefited greatly from their decision to outsource to India. The U.S. and India have an average 12-hour time zone difference, but this kind of use of datacom can provide a virtual 24-hour office to a client in the U.S. Lately, this concept has worked wonders for large projects and also for projects involving remote software maintenance using video conferencing. Offshore projects mean immense time and cost savings.