Apple finds Indian jobs too pricey
Article which appeared in today's edition of Times of India (Indiatimes.com)
URL -
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1625129.cms
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 07, 2006 12:00:00 AM]
WASHINGTON: India might still be the outsourcing apple in the eye of American businesses, but in Steve Jobs mind, the country looks too pricey these days.
US companies are even now offshoring work to India at the rate of knots, but the industry buzz is that the legendary founder of Apple pulled out of the worlds Back Office Central last week after facing rising costs and difficulties in hiring and retaining talent.
Considering Jobs soft corner for India he backpacked across the country in his youth the move could take some shine off the outsourcing story. The former seeker of spiritual gyan might have romanced India in the 1970s, but he is also known as a hard-headed businessman.
An Apple spokesman said it had reevaluated its plans and decided to focus on support centre activities in other countries. Numbers trumped sentiment in Apples decision to pull the plug on its 30-strong Bangalore centre, according to the the US business media.
India isnt as inexpensive as it used to be, an unnamed insider was quoted telling BusinessWeek magazine. The turnover is high, and the competition for good people is strong. The company feels it can do it more efficiently elsewhere. According to industry mavens, entry-level wages have climbed by as much as 13% annually from 2000 to 2004, while salaries for mid-level managers have gone up 30% annually during the same period to a median of $31,131.
Apples decision came even as the US behemoth IBM announced it would triple its investments to $ 6 billion over the next three years. IBM, which already employs some 42,000 people in India and is the countrys largest multinational employers, plans to hire thousands more, its CEO Sam Palmisano said during an analysts conference in Bangalore, the first time Big Blue has held such a meet outside the United States.
Apples exit stood in sharp contrast to the rah rah from IBM, and indeed, other US tech companies.
Companies such as GE, IBM, Microsoft, and Google which swept into India earlier seem to have scooped up low hanging fruit. Apple began its India operations in only January this year with a 30-person office which was expected to grow to 3000 in the next couple of years.
Another reason for Apples pull-out was said to be its tie-up with HCL Infosystems to provide distribution and after-service care for Apples monster hit iPod. Besides, Apple also offers some tech support from another Indian third party BPO provider, TransWorks.
Still, the thud of Apple falling in Bangalore first reported in The Times of India echoed across American techdom, relayed jubilantly by geeks who have been gnashing their teeth at the flight of jobs.
On message boards, Apple aficionados made fun of Indian tech supports use of British expressions such as needful and hence.
India support only alienates customers, and generates additional support calls when the script readers fail to help users, wrote one. My guess is the support would be no better and possibly worse if it was moved back. The training curve would need to start over again... The longer support stays in India, the better it gets, countered another. We may never know.
Jobs himself was expected to visit India in March, although an interview request from ToI had remained unanswered for several weeks, giving some inkling of a glitch in the works.
