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Indian IT & ITES Sector: Redefining Strategies in the Era of Appreciating Rupee
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INTRODUCTION
The rapidly expanding service sector is emerging major contributor to the
as a
Indian economic growth. IT (lnformation Technology) and ITES (IT Enabled
Services) segments remain the key drivers of the growth of this sector.
fiscal 2006-07, software service exports grew by 33% to rake in revenues ofDuring
$31.8
billion against $23.6 billion in the year 2005-06, while domestic segment grew by
23% with revenues of $8.2 billion against $6.7 billion in the year 2005-06. For
year
2007-08 export growth is projected at 26-29%, IT services is expected to be in range
of $28-29 billion while BPO revenues is expected to be $10.5 $11 billion range.
Indian IT and ITES sector is confident of achieving the US$ 80 billion in annual
revenue by 2010 from expected value of $50 billion in 2007-08. It would add 8
percent to India's GDP by 2010 from present level of 5.4 percent. Along with higher
growth there are many challenges emerging. The paper identifies emerging
challenges. Iacreasing wage costs and the rapidly appreciating rupee are taking
133
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
HISTORY OF OUTSOURCING
Basically, an organization can get its information systems from two sources:
internally, from its own IT department, or externally, through outeourcing (McFarlan
and Nolan, 1995; Aubert et al., 1996). In-house provision is often seen as the best
way to provide an organization with IT services that are well adapted to support
its business activities while preserving its trademark processes and know-how
(Chesbrough and Teece, 1996). On the other hand, in-house provision has also been
described as excessively expensive, anachronistic and inefficient (Huber, 1993;
Fields, 1995). Internal IT projects are notorious for being long, late, and over
budget (The Standish Group, 1995; Rockart et al., 1996; Keil et al, 1998). Moreover,
they are said to distract a company from its core business by draining scarce
resources to accomplish an allegedly marginal activity. As reported by Earl (1996),
the critics of in-house development argue that a better solution is to outsource
those IT activities to specialists, thus permitting the company to focus on its core
business. The presumption underlining this argument is that specialists are better
equipped to take advantage of economies of scale while offering access to the best
IS development practices. The resultant savings should eventually translate in
more cost-effective IT services for the firm
(Gupta and Gupta, 1992; Fields, 1995;
Elmuti et al., 1998). Since the early 1990's, the outsourcing
approach has gained
both in popularity and importance, to the point that in some
IT function has been outsourced (Loh and
companies, the entire
Venkatraman, 1992a; Grover et al.,
1994).
$ Billions
20.0
10.00
0.00
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
-t- --
2003 2004 2005 2006
i Exports 0.33 0.49 0.73 1.09 I.76 2.60 3.96 6.22 7.65 9.8812.90 17.70 23.60 31.30
Total 0.56 0.84 1.221.76 2.94 4.01 5.54 8.30 9.96 12.46 16.70 22.60 30.30 39.70
Year
Fig: I - Growth of Indian Software Industry.
The NASSCOM-CRISIL report titled "The Rising Tide Output and Employment
Lankages of 1T-ITES' says: Every rupee spent by the IT-1TES sector (on domestically-
[35]
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
sourced goods and services) translates into a total output of Rs 2 in the economy.
And for every job that is created in this sector, four jobs are created in the rest
of the economy.
Wage Inflation
nere 18 a more increase in the
tne world. According to Hewitt
wage costs in India
cumpared to other pa of
nerease in Asia in Associates.,
2006 and will India had the highest average
continue to hold first sae
for
position in
the w
[36
Indian IT &ITES Sector: Redefining Strategies in Era of Appreciating Rupee
the highest forecasted 'real' wage increases in 2007. Since last few ears, there
was average wage hike of 14-15% for the offshore employees and of 3-5% for onsite
staff. In the process, they have been closing the gap between India and other
emerging IT destinations.
Global Competition
Most outsourcers who are outsourcing to India are also actively looking at another
location to diversify their risk because of India's wage inflation, high attrition rate,
high cost of real estates and other issues. India still remains the world's top
outsourcing hub for IT & ITES but is facing increasing threat from rival China
and host of other countries due to above issues. It's because they want to reduce
the risk of sourcing from a single destination, so China is emerging as an alternate.
Comparison of Indian and Chinese IT/ITES sectors is given below.
1371
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
The IT software and service sector accounted The IT software and servica
for 4.8% of India's GDP in 2005-06.
accounted for just about 0.5 %sector
China's GDP in of
India's IT industry is prominently 2006
China's IT industry growth is
export-led. fuelled
by domestic market
About 1.6 million professional are
China employs an demand.
employed in Indian IT industry.
India's strength includes scalability
estimated 0.5
million IT professionals.
China's strength
and global recognition.
includes strong
government support, quality of
physical infrastructure and
(Source: Data compiled by author)
connectivity.
[38
Indian IT& ITES Sector: Redefining Strategies in Era of Appreciating Rupee
IT firms need to automate several managerial tasks to replace some part of costly
and scarce middle management. This includes standardization of sales process,
large deal management, account management etc. IT firms are also addressing the
margin issue through productivity improvements using automated tools and moving
more work offshore to India. Various strategic options available to cope up with
negative impact of appreciating rupee are listed in Box-II.
[39
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
ITES INDUSTRY
STRATEGIC DECISION MODEL FOR INDIAN IT AND
attrition rate, increased competition etc. put
High wages, rising rupee, high
Indian software industry. Situation of
tremendous pressure on performance of
in delivery of final products and services.
ample resources provides cost advantagesdiminished and become scare, the cost
When these r e s o u r c e s are gradually
maintain dominant position in software
competitiveness is getting reduced. To
market, Indian firms should move up from Quadrant-1 to Quadrant -3 as explained
in Dynamic Resource Based Model (Fig. II).
Specialization
To be avoided
Q-3
Q-4 Differentiation
Cost
Advantage
Advantage
Commoditization To be avoided
Q-1 Q-2
H Resource Position
(Source: Model developed by author)
[411
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
Commoditization
In the scenario when Resource Position is high and Cost Advantage is alan
as shown by quadrant Q-1, provides benefits of commoditization. Initiall8h
was having high amount of resources for software outsourcing hence ultim
tially Indhigh
resulted in to big cost nately
saving. This is because of commoditization of softwars
low margin service jobs were major source of software revenue. When resa
are plentiful it creates cost competitive advantages. India has the largest nurces
highly skilled English speaking software talent, IT && ITES professionais, andof
graduates. Till now India was enjoying this benefit of cost competency.
emerged as the 21st century's software powerhouse, offering many India hae
a global advantages a
sourcing hub, especially for IT and ITES. Indeed, India has already becoma
the world's preferred destination for IT software and
services. The
proposition that India has is that you get high quality expertise at lowunique value
India is the most sought after outsourcing destination for I'T costs. Today
and ITES, as it
60% cost savings without
having to make compromise on quality. Indian IT offers
has grown its revenues ten fold in the industry
past decade. Its contribution to GDP i
estimated to have grown from 1.2% to 5.4% in the
same period.
Specialization
In the scenario when
Differentiation Advantage is high and
is also high as shown
by quadrant Q-3 of Dynamic ResourceCompetitive
Based
Advantage
provides benefits of Specialization over a Model (Fig, I).
period time. Benefits of low cost
of
resource advantages diminish gradually and firm
providing service, software firms are inherently margins get reduced. While
mainly US; hence they need to balance it dependent on other economies
original ideas. The Indian IT and ITES by developing software products using
chain and expand their companies also need to climb
product and service ranges focused towards the value
processes and product development higher value
services. Indian firms should move
product specialization with high
of to niche
in diagram
(Fig. I). price-differentiated product explained below
as
Product Development H
Specialization
IT Consulting/ Strategy
Competitive
Advantages System Implementation
Package Implementation
Project Implementation
L
Coding/Programming Commoditization
L
Fig Il1: Software Value
Ladder
[42]
Indlian IT & ITES Sector: Redefining Strategies in Era of Appreciating Rupee
Tndian software product development firms have been able to capture onlya
meager 0.2 % of the $180 billion global market for product development. This
tation will change if key stakeholders like industry, academia, research
institutions, industry nodal agency such as NASSCOM, entrepreneurs, venture
capitalists and government work hand in hand towards building a conducive
environment for product innovations. According to a study conducted jointly by
IIM-Bangalore and NASSCOM, the revenue potential of India's software product
is as high as $7 billion by 2010. Ultimately, in order to succeed as an industry,
Indian software firms need to specialize in the same domain/niche: in specific
services or products. For example, Israel specialized in data communications and
information security software. Those software firms that have not specialized are
less likely to succeed in long run and quickly loose competitive advantages since
they cannot compete simultaneously on all fronts.
CONCLUSION
India is a near synonym to IT & ITES outsourcing and is the most preferred
outsourcing destination. India's software exports is expected to grow an average
30% annually to theyear 2010 while the domestic software market is seen expanding
25% annually during the same period: Indian software sector has numerous
strengths and competitive advantages to continue work as growth catalysts and
maintain the position of global outsourcing hub. However with appreciating rupee,
increasing competition from emerging IT savvy countries and increase in raw
wages, margins are reducing for Indian IT firms. India needs to parallely develop
a product-oriented industry along with the service-oriented industry and climb the
value chain. Indian firms should also focus on short term as well as long term
strategic plan for addressing quantity and quality problems of workforce.
1431
Globalization Opportunities and Challenges
ANNEXURE-I
Performance of Four Largest Indian IT Firms
against BSE
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+60% TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT
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Indian IT & ITES Sector: Redefining Strategies in Era of Appreciating Rupee
REFERENCES
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