Workforce as a strategic resource in outsourcing-challenges and implications for India

In present times, the quality of manpower has become an important component for a company as well country in an increasingly competitive, knowledge and technology driven global economy. The world economy is increasingly relying on the services sector for growth and many emerging economies are also growing on the strength of services sector. This growth pattern has a high degree of reliance on the skilled manpower, which brings into focus the role of workforce as a strategic resource to take advantage of these growth opportunities. As knowledge economy is becoming the major thrust for economic growth in future and worldwide its contribution in overall trade is increasing, the need for skilled manpower and its role in sustaining this growth momentum hardly needs any mention. As the breadth and scope of outsourcing opportunity expands and its role in improving competitiveness gains momentum among even mid-sized companies along with the growing acceptability and its inevitability within countries, it is going to become an even bigger opportunity for which a lot of countries will be competing. The workforce is going to become a very crucial asset, which is going to assume a lot of significance and its importance in attracting outsourcing work and then building upon and sustaining the momentum. McKinsey in its study has projected that 11% of the 1.46 billion service sector jobs worldwide can be outsourced barring any supply constraints. This can be a huge opportunity in revenue terms as this can generate $135-365 billion pushing the GDP growth rate by additional 1.5% and in the process create employment options for educated manpower. To capitalize on this outsourcing opportunity we need a strong base of trained and educated workforce. If India can manage its talent pool well, it can become a strategic resource to capitalize this outsourcing opportunity. The growth story of Indian economy is increasingly catching the attention of the world and one of the reasons attributed to this success story is the quality and depth of talent pool enjoyed by this country. This paper takes a deeper look into the present state of this talent pool of India especially in the context of outsourcing opportunity and how this can act as a strategic resource in the present scenario to attract more work. At the sarne time we try to examine closely the emerging global outsourcing scene and its implications for India and its talent pool.