Worldfocus

In the last 10 years, India has become a global hub for foreign companies looking to outsource. After all, costs are about 40 percent cheaper compared to operating in the U.S. In 2007, outsourcing brought India about $11 billion in business, though the sector has suffered from the recent credit crisis.

As operating in India has become more expensive, companies like Quattro, an Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) company, have opened offices in countries like Singapore or Mexico.

So when a U.S. company outsources work to an Indian BPO, that same BPO could in turn outsource the job to workers from Mexico.

Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Mary Lockhart and Ara Ayer report from India, where Quattro executive Raman Roy talks about his company’s ambitions.

Below, bloggers discuss India’s role in the global workforce.

A guest blogger at the “Vikas Rikhye” blog writes about the effect of the global financial crisis on BPOs in India.

The “Outsourcing BlogShots” blog writes that outsourcing is going beyond India as world economies decline, and that Chinese and Latin American markets are getting more attention.

American blogger and IT assistant “Rita Cartwright” outlines some disadvantages to outsourcing.

The Wall Street Journal’s “Washington Wire” blog takes a look at the Indian outsourcing industry’s thoughts about Barack Obama, who criticized outsourcing during the 2008 U.S. election campaign.