Swati Prasad

Inside India

By Swati Prasad

Its size, its people, its coming of age


Multinationals in India choose political correctness

Posted in Inside India by Swati Prasad on 2008/08/06 01:07:15

The success of Indian IT continues to spark backlash in the developed world. This is one concern multinational corporations (MNCs) may have to live with. I experienced this recently, when I approached several MNCs for a story on how India is fast emerging as a hub for low-cost development.

The queries were rather simple, intended at finding out what kind of development work actually took place at the R&D centers of these MNCs in India. A majority of the MNCs never got back to me. Most said their key executives (who were authorized to answer these queries) were traveling. Some were more forthright and said they can't reveal such information due to strategic reasons. Yet, others said nothing at all. There was one company that responded quite promptly. But then, it didn't do any development work in India (the company was Acer; it undertakes R&D at its headquarters in Taiwan).

A prominent industry person finally spelt out what I had begun to anticipate. "Large MNCs need to be politically correct. Back home, they have to give the impression that they are outsourcing simple jobs to India and not more high-skill jobs. Otherwise, they could draw more flak," the source said.

For many Indians, this resentment may not be easy to understand. Look at it this way--if the Tata group was to downsize heavily in India, and get all its development and backoffice work done at R&D centers and BPO (business process outsourcing) outfits in other countries, many Indians would be rather agitated and upset.

Then again, it's impossible to suppress the growing prowess of a country--and market size--as large as India (or any other emerging economy for that matter). How long can they ignore media queries? Nothing can stop the inevitable from happening.

Perhaps, there is no easy solution to this particular fallout of globalization.





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Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

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Talkback 3 comments

Multinationals in India choose political correctness
If and when Indian companies outsource, many Indians will follow their jobs to _any_ "phoren" country. That's an option MNC home country employees are not taking up often enough in the new order of things.
Posted by Som on Wednesday, August 06 2008 07:56 PM

Multinationals in India choose political correctness
MNCs simply do not want to project themselves as relying on India/China for high skilled jobs due to PR reasons.
My friends working in one of the largest MNCs in India told me how strategic are the India development centers are - this is highlighted by the headcount. His project employs 100 developers worldwide and 90 of them sit in India. The ratio increased in India in the last 5 years.
India is loosing the PR battle in this front.
Posted by Tony on Monday, August 11 2008 12:05 PM

Multinationals in India choose political correctness
It made an interesting reading but just a thought..living in an information age ..to quote you."Large MNCs need to be politically correct. Back home, they have to give the impression that they are outsourcing simple jobs to India and not more high-skill jobs" it would not be difficult to find out what an MNC is doing for a persistent detrmined person from the MNC'S home. Information is everywhere from patents emanating from the centre, white papers, new models being developed, moles in the MNC etc..If you want an information, it will come, though sometimes from an inappropriate sources.
Posted by Amar on Monday, August 11 2008 10:35 PM

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Swati Prasad

Swati Prasad



Swati Prasad is a full-time freelance journalist based in Gurgaon, the IT-ITES hub of India. Armed with over 13 years of experience in business writing, Swati has worked in both Delhi and Mumbai as a correspondent and editor for several of the country's leading newspapers, including The Economic Times and Business Standard and India’s leading business magazine, Business Today. Her areas of interest include technology, economy and corporate issues. She moved to freelance writing in October 2005, and currently undertakes writing and editing work for publications, companies and consultancies.