You are on page 1of 2

Global trends in Knowledge Process Outsourcing: Is India a force to

reckon with ?

Dr Ranjana Agarwal
Associate Professor Economics
Rai Business School, Delhi
Email: Ranjana.agarwal@raiuniversity.edu
09891328043

Keywords: KPO, Comparative Advantage, Human capital, skills

Abstract

The world is fast changing into a knowledge based economy. Today more
industries are where IT was in the 1990’s - knowledge based. The knowledge based
industries have given rise to a new trend in outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing
KPO. This involves outsourcing for high-end knowledge work. This includes research
and work on intellectual property, equity and finance, analytics, market research and data
management, et cetera. KPO tasks require domain expertise for projects involving
moderate to high levels of analysis, especially those related to industrial sectors. The kind
of work employees have to do includes abstraction of technical patents, extraction of
legacy technical data, cataloguing and indexing, taxonomy building and database creation
and updating. All this requires a basic interest and knowledge in specific domains besides
an aptitude for working with data and information.

After BPO, India is now gearing towards KPO’’s. The high-end KPO
opportunities are immense for Indian firms. More foreign firms head for India. Law firms
such as Patent Metrix, Cantor-Colburn and Schwegman, Lundberg, and Woessner &
Kluth have already set up offices in India. Many people are unaware of the potential of
this sector and the scope of future prospects. This sector is expected to employ 250,000
persons by 2010.
This paper looks into these issues. It examines the growing KPO sector in India. It
looks into the future prospects and challenges faced by this sector. This paper seeks to
carryout a cross country analysis to determine and compare sources of comparative
advantage for India and its major competitor nations in KPO. Based on secondary data,
the paper will make a comparative study on KPO in India with other countries namely
China, Phillipines and Ireland . The key issues on which the paper would throw light on
include

a. Emerging trends of KPO in India, and its future prospects


b. What are the areas of KPO where India is likely to enjoy a
comparative advantage.
c. What are the major challenges faced in stabling India as a KPO
d. What determines India’s edge visa vis other developing nations in
KPO
e. Which countries represent the main competitive threats to India in this
area

You might also like