Outsourcing of Knowledge Workers
First Online: May 02, 2006
Page Last Updated: February 17, 2024
Introduction to India Outsourcing
In the 1990s after the advent of Internet and other digital communication infrastructure, a number of companies all over the world started sending their software and programming projects to India. This phenomenon was precipitated by the Y2K problem and shortage of programmers everywhere as well as the shortage of adequate employment in India for qualified engineers and the newly liberated Indian economy that allowed for foreign investment.
After the Y2K bugs were fixed, the Indian industry quickly adapted itself to undertake much bigger and much more ambitious software projects and collectively called itself the "IT Outsourcing" or "IT Off-shoring" industry. This vision and infrastructure brought very highly paying jobs to India and stopped what was hitherto known in India as the "brain-drain" (where all the highly skilled professionals such as computer scientists and doctors fled the country). The programmers are involved in all sorts of projects including mobile app development, database management and CMMS software development. This boom made millionaires of many programmers, much to the disdain of social reformers and thinkers in India.
This emerging section at Kamat's Potpourri will cover the Outsourcing industry including its controversies and impact on Indian society.
Outsourcing to India
