Flag of India
Key facts about the country
Population: 1.17 billion
Language: Hindi, English
Capital: New Delhi
Key development centres: Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai
Still the largest offshore development destination, India is facing up to new challenges and competitors.
India has been an outsourcing software development hub since the mid-nineties. This heritage creates both advantages and disadvantages. However, for scale, India remains unbeaten. In addition the Indian software industry is no longer reliant upon work from abroad. India has a strong domestic market that uses outsourced development too.
While not an EU member and with its own distinct culture India does retain some affinity with other commonwealth members, particularly Britain. However, workplace culture is the area that India gets marked down for in software development.
The Indian education system places strong emphasis on maths and science, resulting in a large number of graduates in these two fields. Most of them also speak good English having been educated in it. India has the second largest English speaking workforce in the world, after the USA. India is also noted for its particularly strong telecoms development skills.
NASSCOM, the Indian IT software and services association runs a programme to encourage software companies to become accredited by a quality management standard. Nearly all the larger outsourcers have aligned their processes to standards including ISO and Six Sigma.
India is five hours ahead of the UK. This can mean a little juggling to ensure you have enough contact, but generally the outsourcer will be prepared to do most of the early mornings or late evenings themselves. In fact at some larger development companies, the employees work hours to match those of their clients.
Taj Mahal - India
India’s cost base has been rising due to the appreciation of the rupee and increases in wages. However it is still markedly cheaper that outsourcing within the UK, for example, and remains on a par with Eastern Europe.
Indian software developer churn is much lower than that of call centre agents or BPO workers. However it remains higher that in most other countries. On the other hand, like Poland, India is enjoying a reverse brain drain with many Indian residents who were working abroad returning home due to the booming economy.
As in China, in India there is a gap between the country’s intellectual property laws and the prosecution of offenders. Consequently some cases of IP theft still occur and in 2009 India remains on the International Intellectual Property Alliance Priority Watch List. Fortunately most Indian companies now have adopted strict measures to ensure IP rights and prevent data theft.