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Availability of manpower is a non-issue in India. Yes, the number reduces drastically when we talk of educated English-speaking people, but even that number itself is bigger than the collective workforce available anywhere else in the world. This is our single biggest asset.

Now, consider that along with the cultural aspect of the country. Indians are by and large intelligent and hardworking. Environmentally, we have to always work a little harder than others to make ends meet. That makes us manage pressure. Intelligent, hard working, ability to manage pressure—what are these if not the attributes of a global workforce? By global, I mean a workforce whose output is in contrast with the Indian chalta hai attitude.

However, this workforce is not always available in a ready to use form. They are like uncut diamonds. Under our existing system, a lot of cutting and polishing have to be done to get results.

The question here is: Whose responsibility is this? Who will turn this potential workforce to a global asset?

Till now, it is the respective industries that have taken the onus. BPO is no exception. Our people are not familiar with the markets they serve. Take the mortgage or credit card industry. The credit cards here are vanilla service, the concept of APR is not common in India, but it is a daily affair in the US. Again the concept of escrow is non-existent in India. These people have to be trained before they can work on these processes.

Can we continue to leave that to the industry? I do not think it is a sustainable model. Because our real competition is from outside the country—from China, Philippines and Malaysia.

We all have a role to play in the development of our country. But I do not see a long-term game plan. Just as a company plans for its quarters ahead, at the national level also, long-term planning is essential. Look at China, Singapore and other developed countries that have moved from being developing countries. They all had a game plan.

The industry, of course, will continue to play its role. But, why can’t the government ask an industry leader to take charge of, say, the government’s education program?

Let me illustrate. Let us take the example of the US GAAP. Out of the $21-24 billion annual BPO revenue by 2008 predicted by McKinsey, $5 billion is going to come from accounting services. That means thousands of people will be doing accounting for US companies. How many Indian universities today have the US GAAP in their curriculum? We are not taking even baby steps to address that.

Sure the industry can do it, and is doing it. But then, when we compete with countries, like the Philippines, who teach the US GAAP in colleges, our costs go up drastically.

To go back to the diamond example, we will do the polishing bit. But we need cut diamonds.

There is a greater imperative for a comprehensive manpower strategy for the BPO sector because of its growth potential. India is the only country in the world to have an MCA degree. That served our need and helped our IT services industry to grow. Why are there no courses in customer care, the US GAAP, international law or mortgaging?

These courses may come up after a decade but can we afford to wait that long? While the IT industry had a lead time of over 8-10 years, that period is much shorter for the BPO industry.

We would love it as an industry if an institution like IGNOU offers courses for this industry. At Wipro-Spectramind, we have, in our own small way, tied up with two schools to hire students and give them the opportunity to continue their studies by providing teachers in the campus.

This is enough to meet the needs of our company but certainly not adequate for an industry-wide impact. There are no straight answers here. The industry and the government have to work in co-operation to find the right answers.

Another more fundamental issue the industry needs to look at is to expand its base from metros to smaller cities. It is important to make everybody a part of this phenomenon. The government needs to play a supporting role by ensuring adequate infrastructure in these places for companies to expand.

Then only, can India fulfill its rightful position as the leader in providing outsourced back-office services to the world. 

(As told to bpOrbit)