BPO Question Keeps Popping Up

The question of America’s attitude towards offshore BPO outsourcing kept popping up during President Barack Obama’s visit to India. The Indian contingent was much interested in knowing what the President had in mind about offshore call centers in India. If you rewind the clock back, Obama was primarily vocal about banning any form of telemarketing outsourcing to offshore destinations like India or the Philippines. He was compelled to take such a step because he wanted to bring back jobs to the American shores. The unemployment percentage is now just under 10% after alarming riding over that panic button.

During the President’s visit, the Indian call center delegates were much interested in knowing how things are going to change. The protectionist measures of Obama were severely criticized by the Indian businessmen because they thought that the telemarketing services sector would be hit hard by such measures. In the coming months, the BPO sector across the world is looking forward to the developments in USA. The primary reason for their concern is that the American market is the single largest provider of telemarketing and customer service projects. The European sector has provided only sporadic work over the years and is always regarded as a sort of bonus. The bulk provider being USA, these measures set off alarm bells for call centers across the globe.

BPO between USA and India

The thorn in the bilateral talks between USA and India is the issue on the offshore BPO outsourcing. The President of America, Barack Obama, will be visiting India next month. The call center industry is gearing up to meet and find out what the President has to say about the offshore outsourcing business. The American shores are politically active about the question of using offshore call centers for their projects. The Obama administration has already banned the use of such centers to get government work done. The President has categorically stated that he is not keen on allowing the taxpayer’s money to be spent in generating jobs in other countries.

However, this protectionist measure of the President does not have the support of a clear majority. The Senate voted down the anti-offshore BPO bill. Because of some hard lobbying from the Republicans and the business owners who have high stakes in the offshore call centers, the bill couldn’t get the majority that it was looking for. When the President comes to the bedrock of offshore telemarketing services, that is India, he will be faced with some uncomfortable questions, that’s for sure. It remains to be seen what the President has to say about the issue when he walks to business persons holding considerable revenue coming from the USA.