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Few years back, India was basking in international recognition as a lucrative business destination for foreign companies. With more and more companies outsourcing their key business processes to India, the BPO industry saw an unparalleled boom. This created countless employment opportunities for young graduates and professionals. It became a great career option for numerous young, mid-career professionals to earn a competitive pay package and get acquainted to international work standards and cutting edge technology.

But with the financial meltdown in USA, the prospects of BPO industry look bleak now. With the crash of the major financial behemoths at the Wall Street, there is chaos, panic and despair in the entire IT and BPO industry in India. Almost 60% of the IT-BPO companies get their bread and butter from American financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. The future of about 23 lakh people is in doldrums right now with layoffs being witnessed in all major firms. Leading global HR consulting firm Manpower has drastically downgraded hiring outlook for India. According to Manpower, hiring outlook (percentage of hiring that companies plan) dipped from 56% to 33% for quarter ending March 2009 for finance and insurance sectors. For IT-ITES, the outlook has declined from 58% to 47%. Companies are going to be badly hit, especially in the banking financial services & insurance (BFSI), IT and BPO, say experts. It is estimated that at least 5000-8000 people may have to search for other job options.

Meanwhile, at Lehman’s India unit, the fate of 2,500 employees is still uncertain. At a meeting in Hong Kong this week, the company decided that employees will get their September salary, but there was no word on their future.

Vikram Bhardwaj, CEO of Redileon, an executive HR firm said: “All hirings, especially of top management across sectors, is going to be badly hit in the ripple effect. From short-to-mid term, the scenario can only worsen, unless positive signals emerge from the US economy. Every new requirement for a hiring is being scrutinised heavily by the finance departments in IT companies.”

The ripple effect has lead to cost cutting in the IT and BPO industry in India. This has a direct impact on the recruitment and pay-packages offered to fresher’s.

Though Indian BPO industry is shaken by the global meltdown, there might still be some hope left. Nasscom has assured that the impact on Indian industry would be company specific and short term. Stating that the Indian IT-BPO sector is a part of the global financial system that has seen a lot of turbulence in the recent past, the apex body said ‘our preliminary analysis of the current situation indicates that the impact will be short term and company specific.

All we can do is wait and watch how the world-wide paranoia and crisis affects the Indian industry in the future. Let’s hope that there is a silver lining of optimism behind this cloud of disaster.

Tags: Bank of America, Banking Financial, BPO, BPO Industry, Career, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HR, HR Consulting, India, IT and BPO, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Outsourcing, Redileon, Ripple Effect, USA, Washington Mutual

Indian economy has prospered during the last 5 years. It is now recognized as a global player in the information technology industry, developing and exporting software as well as software professionals. However, India has another fast growing export – Indian clothes.

Asian Indian fashion has found a niche in popular American culture. After Liv Tyler was featured adorning mehndi in a popular magazine, just about everything Asian Indian became popular. It suddenly became chic for Americans to wear a sari, adorn a bindi or wear mehndi. The traditional dress of India is influencing western fashion in a big way. The result: easy, soft, summer clothes – flowing skirts, charming camisoles and exotic sandals – made with beautiful rich sari trims, swirling prints, intricate embroidery and charka symbols. Apart from celebrities embellishing Indian clothes, a major reason for this growing influence is the rapid expansion of Indian community in America. According to American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, Indians have become the second largest Asian community after Chinese who have shown a growth rate of 38% in the last few years. California and New York are 2 major cities where one can find a large Indian population. And these two cities are also among the major fashion hubs of USA. So popularity of Indian clothes among Americans is inevitable.

Saris, with their golden threads, intricate embroidery and innate romance have always attracted Westerners. Supermodel Naomi Campbell wore a sari at the MTV Music Awards, and Goldie Hawn, a great fan of India, often wears saris to social events.  Sari stores thrive in many Indian enclaves in America. Among the largest is India Sari Palace in New York, with a vast inventory from India. Many communities, such as the Gujarati, wear mostly saris, and so there is a constant demand in America. Just looking at the stores in Little India’s across America indicates that sari is thriving. In the 60s, many women were reluctant to wear saris in the US, afraid they would stand out. But in multicultural America in the 90s there seems to be a new pride in one’s roots. Designers have revitalized this centuries old Indian wear to give it a new and trendy look. Georgette and net sari’s with heavy thread work sell like hot cakes as they appeal a lot to the younger generation.

Another Indian wear which is becoming increasing fashionable in America is the Kurti (shorter form of kurta, usually up to the hips, worn by girls over a skirt or pants). Kurti’s have become such a rage that they can even be found in big stores like Macy’s, JCPenny, Kohls etc. Techniques such as block printing, cross-stitch, kantha work; beadwork and mirror work on Kurti’s is appreciated a lot by Americans/ NRI’s.

Americans are always fascinated by the intricate work done by hand on Indian clothes and that’s the reason why woolen shawls, stoles and scarves are a lot in vogue. The main reason for the popularity of woolen stoles might be because they can be worn on any dress, be it a traditional Indian suit, a sari or a western outfit.

Every American city nowadays has a ‘Little India’ which caters mainly to the needs of Indian population right from groceries to clothes. These markets would be the best bet to find the latest clothes. Besides such markets there might be some exclusive boutiques which could help personalize outfits depending on one’s choice. Information about such boutiques should be easily available on internet. Indianisation of fashion in America is growing at a rapid pace as the world is becoming increasingly fascinated by our clothes. It might not be a surprise if a few years later the Indian attire is well accepted as a graceful executive wear in USA.

Tags: American Culture, Asian Indian Fashion, Fashion, India, Indian Fashion, Liv Tyler, Mehndi, Saree, Saris, USA, Western Fashion

The most prestigious sports show of the year- Beijing Olympics 2008 is over with lots of ping pong. The hosting country, China is at the top with 51 Gold medals, 21 Silver medals and 28 Bronze medals.  USA followed China with 36 Gold medals, 38 Silver medals and 36 Bronze medals. Although, India far away from these winning countries but this years Olympics had created historical records with first ever individual Gold and 2 Bronze medals.

This can be considered best performance by India. Abhinav Bindra won the first gold in Olympics in Shooting, Sushil Kumar catch Bronze in Wrestling while Vijendra Kumar gets first Bronze in Boxing.

Comparative to earlier performances India has recorded good points in Olympics but why we never get good number of medals in Olympics? India, the biggest democracy of the world and second largest populated country has very few medals at the name of Olympics. A lone gold till now at the Olympics makes one wonder, Can India ever match China and USA when it comes to winning medals at the Olympics? What are the reasons? May be the following points are responsible to some extent behind our failure:

Infrastructure: A proper infrastructure is needed to encourage any sports. Most of our concern remain on cricket which is nowhere in Olympics. Other games of interest in Olympics remain ignored like shooting, Athletics, Gymnastics etc. These players need support to have an enthusiastic spirit. How medals can is expected without proper infrastructure to these sports? Proper utilization of funds is required for different sports to flourish.

Cricket: Cricket is the most adored and played sports not only in India but all over the world. Cricket is played on every street in India. People got crazy when it comes to cricket and left everything to watch the battle between two teams on cricket ground. It gives everything from money and fame to respect. That is why every person who loves sports wants to make his career in cricket. This is one of the biggest factor because of which we are lacking in the major sports events. Other sports get hide behind cricket and get less value comparatively.

Politics in sports organization: we try to dominate in all the sports and due to this the focus shifts from the player to the authorities in these games. This is because of politics in sports organization which lads to a failure in Olympics and hence no medals.

Lack of efficient government and legislation: India does not lack in talent. Indians have lots of buried talent which needs to dig up. But government is not providing adequate facilities and finance needs which make the talent lost. Without these efforts India can not organize a team to lead in Olympics, bureaucratic and in-efficient democratic system and poor lead ship makes India unable to coordinate all interests behind the game.

Our Will Power: Lack of will power makes the sports dull and there become no chance of winning any medal. Will power is a must and must thing to achieve success. Sushil Kumar, Vijender Kumar, is those who win medals this year by their strong will power.

Encouragement from Schools: Children learn from their schools. Their sports play list enlists mostly cricket, football, hockey and tennis. Other games like shooting, boxing, gymnastics are given little or no importance. No good facilities are provided for these games. But these games are included in Olympics and hence enough talent is not created in youngsters for these games which makes India avoid of any good number of medals in Olympics.

Tags: Bronze Medal, China, Cricket, gold medal, India, Infrastructure, Medals, Olympics, Politics, Silver Medal, USA

A few hours after the Left parties pulled out their support to Congress led UPA government, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday announced that the UPA government will have to seek trust vote of confidence on the issue of very controversial and crucial Indo-US nuclear deal.

UPA government who announced to approach the IAEA to finalize the safeguards agreement will move for the same only after winning the trust votes.

After holding a talk with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in Japan to attend the G8 meet, Pranab said while talking to the reporters that the government will seek vote of confidence as soon as it receives a formal communication from President Pratibha Patil.

The normal Monsoon Session of Parliament will be convened from August 11 as informed by Mukherjee.

Replying to the Left parties’ complaint that UPA is hiding full text of safeguard agreement, Mukherjee said, “Full text of the safeguards agreement could not be shared with Left partners as it is a “privileged” confidential document between the Indian government and the IAEA.”

Mukherjee told that a brief summary of the agreement was already unveiled to the Left parties and full text of the safeguards agreement could be shared with “third parties” only after going through laid down procedures of the IAEA.

He also clarified that outcome of talks with IAEA had been circulated among all members of the UPA-Left co-ordination committee as agreed in the November 16, 2007 meeting.

Mukherjee told that those who want a full text of the safeguards agreement would have had to join the government to have access to it.

Tags: Congress, External Affairs minister, India, Indo US, Left, Left Parties, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, Pranab, Pranab Mukherjee, UPA, USA

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday stated that India will very soon go to the IAEA for a safeguards agreement for the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal. However, he did not specify any date as to when exactly India would go to the IAEA headquarters at Vienna.

While heading toward Japan for G8 summit he spoke to journalists on board the special aircraft, “We have been assured that once we take the decision to go to the IAEA, the process will move very fast.”

“As soon as we decide to go to the IAEA, the matter will be in the court of its Board of Governors and we would certainly hope that the Board can take a quick decision. We have an agreed text which has been agreed to by the secretariat of the IAEA, so I would expect that the process would not take too long,” he added.

Singh, who will meet US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the summit on July 9, said that he would also discuss this issue of nuclear deal with other world leaders and will seek their support for the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG).

Very confidently and relaxed PM said, “Living with tension is part of the prime minister’s job in all countries, including India, but I am not under any unusual tension,”

Having a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani’s who stated that government should seek a trust vote, Singh said: “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. We are not afraid of facing the Parliament. We will abide by all the Parliamentary norms that should apply to the great democracy that India is. Advani need not give any advice to us.”

Singh further added that the BJP leader “need not give any advice” on the issue. Exuding confidence at the strength of his government, he said “there would be no early Lok Sabha polls.”

Tags: Advani, IAEA, India, India US Nuke deal, LK Advani, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, US, USA

World Bank report published in a London based news daily, ‘Guardian’, says that the global food scarcity and soaring inflation is because of increasing production of Bio-fuels in America.

President George W Bush’s accusation on China and India for causing inflation and scarcity of food has been substantiated proved wrong by this report published on Friday. The report further said that Bio fuel production which mainly uses food crops like Maize, rapeseed and soybean hiked the price to 75 %. This statement also proved wrong the president Bush’s claim of 3% rise in prices.

More then 100 million people would be affected with inflation and food scarcity. The European countries like America are widely depending on Bio fuels is the only issue of inflation and the scarcity of food grains.

At the same time, the growth of the food grains is not on par with developing economy in some countries, is also another major factor. The uncontrollable surging prices of food grains pushed millions of families into famine. Families are left on modest diet because of soaring inflation rate and increasing food prices. A common man is unable to meet their daily requirements and govt. is unable to find any solution to stop this crisis.

Tags: America, Biofuels, food problem, India, London, USA, World Bank

The much awaited Left-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coordination meeting over the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement ended on Wednesday evening without a decision. After a 90-minute meeting of the 15-member committee, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that the committee will come to a conclusion on IAEA safeguards in its next meeting, for which they failed to mention a date.

Its ninth meeting of Left-UPA over the crucial Indo-US nuke deal which went undecidedly against the backdrop of the standoff between the two sides on the Indo-US nuclear deal. It was reported that all members except NCP leader Sharad Pawar attended the meeting where both the sides stuck to their respective positions even while maintaining that they did not favor early elections.

The two sides met at the residence of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government’s chief negotiator, to discuss the latest situation arising out of government’s determination to approach the IAEA for finalizing an India-specific safeguards agreement.

The committee completed its discussions on all aspects of the agreement. Sources told that the next meeting of the committee is likely to be held in mid July.

Earlier, Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister at his residence (second time in a day) to give details of the situation before the crucial UPA-Left coordination committee meeting at 5 pm. Before this, Mukherjee had called on PM Manmohan Singh at the PMO to discuss the issue. The meeting came after the Left parties told Mukherjee earlier in the day that they would not accept a compromise formula that would have allowed the government to finalize the safeguards agreement required for the nuke deal, with the IAEA.

Left has dismissed the formula as “meaningless” hours before a crucial meet of the UPA-Left co-ordination committee to iron out differences on the civil nuclear deal. The Left parties maintained that they ‘understood’ the safeguards agreement would be on auto pilot mode for progress on the deal immediately after the IAEA Board of Governors approved it.  Later, Karat, Mukherjee and Antony had gone to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence to apprise her of the Left’s stand. Mukherjee also met UPA allies at 4:00 pm ahead of the UPA-Left committee meet.

Karat, meanwhile, also met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, with the latter reiterating that his party would take a final decision on the nuke deal after next week’s UNPA meet.

Tags: , Congress, IAEA, India, India US, Left Parties, N-deal, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, UPA, USA

To conclude the Indo-US nuclear deal, which was suspected to be almost over, India needs to make some tough choices. The US has asked India to make some “tough choices” in making the deal a possibility.

“… President Bush pressed for the civilian nuclear agreement with India against strong opposition because he’s committed to our long-term strategic partnership. Now India needs to make some tough choices,” a senior US official said.

There are uncertainities looming over this deal for last many days. According to the US official there is rising demand of energy and amid these conditions there is an urgent need to realise the potential of this historic agreement by India.

“… Rising demand for energy is an issue that our countries can’t ignore. We believe it’s essential to quickly implement the landmark civilian nuclear agreement and bring India into the international nuclear non-proliferation mainstream,” commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez said at United States India Business Council (USIBC) 33rd anniversary celebrations here.

The United States remains committed to being India’s partner in providing clean, sustainable energy. While this includes nuclear power, it also means using other clean energy technologies, he added.

“We are moving toward a political consensus inch by inch. I don’t think it has been put away and I am confident that at some point we are going to arrive at this political consensus within India and that’s the best way to do it,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.

Tags: Bush, India, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, US, USA

The Indo-US nuclear deal that is hanging for last many months is almost certainly dead because of delays by New Delhi as indicated by a senior American official. He said the collapse of this deal will be a “historic blunder” for India.

Ashley Tellis who is one of the original architects of the historic deal and now an adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign nodded in yes to the question whether it was now impossible to push the deal through in the dying days of Bush’s term?

A British newspaper on Wednesday quoted an adviser to Obama as saying the Democratic Party presidential candidate was ”highly ambivalent” about the deal. Obama submitted a wrecking amendment to the original bill in 2006.

The paper said the Bush administration has ”watched with growing frustration” as New Delhi repeatedly missed deadlines to complete the deal.

It said US officials had hoped until recently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would persuade his colleagues, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to face down his government’s Left allies over the deal.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he still continued to hope that “we will make progress in the months that lie ahead” after admitting that “our domestic politics has prevented us from going ahead”.

“Even if the Indian government were suddenly to turn around and get the IAEA stage completed, there will be no time for the remaining two stages,” Tellis told to the Financial Times while talking about the deal that has been touted by US President George W. Bush as one of his signature foreign policy achievements.

After New Delhi secures the approval of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), the deal would have to be cleared by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group before returning to the US Congress for final approval.

The newspaper noted that US officials continued to hope that Singh would persuade his colleagues, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi to face down the Communist parties that last year threatened to pull the plug on the coalition government if it pushed ahead with the deal.

The newspaper quoted that senior Indian officials say privately that their best chances of reviving the deal would come with the election of John McCain, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential candidate, who last month stated his strong support for it.

Tags: Delhi, India, Nuclear deal, US, USA

The United States has denied any change in the 123 Agreement to make it acceptable to a section of the political opposition in India.

State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told that New Delhi will have to work through the political process and in the framework of the text agreed upon. No changes will be entertained further.

“The last that I heard this really is an issue that is in the Indian government’s court. If they are going to resolve the — their issues within their own political system, it is going to be up to them to do so based on the agreement that is on the table,” McCormack said while replying to a query that asked if there could be major changes in the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement that could make some in India act on the issue.

Tags: India, N-deal, Nuclear, US, USA