[INFO] India Fast Losing BPO Jobs To Philippines

New Delhi: For about a decade, it was India's call centre boom, that defined it as the 'world's back office', much like neighboring China, which has been immortalized as the 'world's factory.' However the situation seems to be changing, as Philippines is fast taking over India's back office supremacy, with BPO service providers and customers seeming to favor this country as a better place for 'voice-related' work, reports Economic Times. 

"India has lost tens of thousands of jobs to the Philippines. The caliber of English is better and companies don't have to put up with the mess (that exists in India) there," says Pramod Bhasin, President and CEO of Genpact.

Some of the major hassles that India poses, include arranging transport for employees, security, power back-up in offices, and basic infrastructure that firms can take for granted in the Philippines. The country has become a preferred destination, especially with the U.S. companies, many of which are more comfortable with the English accent spoken there. U.S. customers account for over 50 percent of the global outsourcing business.

Ananda Mukherji, MD and CEO of BPO provider Firstsource Solutions, says that costs are more or less similar in both countries. This means the accent proficiency in the Philippines tips the scales in its favor.

According to the Economic Times, many of the Philippines' advantages are due to the U.S. rule, which bequeathed the English language to that country with its distinct accent along with a robust telecom and broadband network laid out by the U.S. defense forces.

Prabhakar Bisen, Head of the Philippines operations of WNS says, "Apart from affinity to the U.S. culture and English-speaking skills, the country's time zone advantages make the Philippines a natural choice for providing 24x7 service to global companies, particularly those based in the U.S."

Genpact, Wipro BPO, Intelenet, Aegis BPO and Firstsource are all ramping up their operations in Philippines. Genpact has about 2,000 employees there and expects to scale up operations by 40-50 percent in the next 12 months. Firstsource has about 500 staff in Manila, while WNS has increased staffing to 1,100 from 200 in the past 18 months, providing a mix of voice and back-office services for telecom, consumer products, travel and financial services clients.

In the past 12 months, Wipro BPO has set up a 1,000 seat centre in the Philippines' Cebu City, with staff there engaged in telecom, healthcare, energy and utilities-related tasks.

    Thanks & regards,

Suresh Chowdary Yepuri