Outsourcing to Continue, Many Indians Say
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=20&u=/ap/20041103/ap_on_hi_te/election_outsourcingBANGALORE, India - Outsourcing may have been a hot U.S. political issue for a time, but Indian business leaders said Wednesday that the presidential election showed Americans never equated it with U.S. job losses — and that the practice will continue no matter who wins.
Early in his campaign, Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) promised curbs on outsourcing — the practice among U.S. companies to move white-collar work to cheaper countries like India. American labor unions have blamed the practice for job losses in the United States.
But outsourcing "was never an issue with the general public, but something a small group blew up into a big thing," said Pawan Kumar, chairman of VMoksha Technologies in Bangalore, the south Indian city that has become the center of India's high-tech economy.
The proof of that, industry leaders say, is how the issue apparently did little to hurt President George W. Bush (news - web sites), who appeared to be creeping closer to re-election Wednesday. "The U.S. electorate is mature enough to understand the changing economic realities and they accept outsourcing," asserted L. S. Ram, executive director of CrossDomains, another outsourcing firm.