New Delhi: One of India’s fastest growing sectors, the business process outsourcing industry, claims to be suffering a short-term impact from the terror strikes in Mumbai. Conferences and scheduled meetings are getting postponed, as companies are issuing advisories against visiting India.
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Says Samir Chopra, who heads BPIAI, a body of BPO operators, “We have suspended a conference which was going to take place in October next year… I know a company, which was doing a ramp up from Gurgaon to Navi Mumbai, is not doing it. What they are doing now is to go to tier 3 cities because it is going to be safer there. They say we are not interested in going to a metropolitan city. Business sentiment and employment opportunities of these cities are going to take a downward trend.”
But the attacks have not led to any major blow for business for these companies, at least for now. Post 9/11 there is a greater understanding among companies across the globe that no place is insulated. Plus, most businesses in US are going slow, as they enter the festive season that begins mid-December.
“This should give us some time for companies here to get ourselves a little more organized in terms of security and how we will deal with some of these issues. Our feeling is that from the middle of January we should see confidence coming back if there is no repeat of incidents of similar nature.” feels Srinivas Pingali of Quatrro BPO solutions.
But most industry leaders believe that one more attack could seriously dent business sentiment already low due to a recession in their prime market, the United States.