Off-shoring / Outsourcing: India Inc.’s Increasingly Expanding Overseas Presence

Source: www.business-standard.com

Even as, multinationals and US / European jump-start ups make a beeline for Indian shores, Indian firms, are on an expansion spree overseas, buying up American / European firms, as they establish or add to their presence in the Western Hemisphere.

And, the most recent addition to an indication of India Inc.’s growing presence abroad and at home, is the Chandigarh-based Mobera Systems Private Ltd, an IT company engaged in ‘Contract R&D’, a specialist in mobile gaming, embedded technologies, networking & wireless etc. While, it looks for space near Chandigarh to increase its headcount, at the same time it is planning to open offices in Japan, Korea and Western Europe, with an initial investment of around $ 0.5 million to $1 million in offices in these countries, centres which are in addition to its offices in USA & France.

Moreover, only recently, Mobera acquired Tempowest Inc, a Delaware incorporated firm based in New York, and has also been a major player in providing innovative engineering design and product development solutions to the communication industry. Confirming the news of the firm’s expansion plans and the opening of new offices in Japan, Korea and Western Europe, Puneet Vatsayan (Director) says discussions are going on and it is to be hoped that things will materialise, very soon.

Commenting upon his firm’s recent acquisition in New York, he adds: “The acquisition will augment our technical expertise, and will allow us to develop a broader platform for product delivery, to launch and deliver innovative solutions, and leverage our experience in the communication industry.”

Talking of his firm’s newest acquisition, Vatsayan says Tempowest comes with an impressive operating history and project accomplishments that strongly compliment Mobera’s areas of operations, and will create a synergy that will help in penetrating the US market.

With plans afoot to increase the headcount at its Chandigarh office, Vatsayan says: “At present, we have 67-people in our employment, but we have plans to double the manpower capacity of our Chandigarh office, and are looking for 0.25-acres of land near Chandigarh for further expansion.” The last financial year saw the firm handle a turnover of Rs. 5.23-crore, consequently this year it expects a 100% growth in its turnover rate.

As well, only recently, NASSCOM’s Certificate of Recognition Programme was awarded to Mobera, after a certification audit carried out by Business Software Alliance (BSA) in August 2006, confirmed it was using only legally licensed software, throughout. The only company, north of Delhi to hold the distinction of holding CORP certification from NASSCOM, already, Mobera has 2-patents and has applied for another one.

And, as far as, Corporate Social Responsibility is concerned, this Indian firm is engaged in providing education, empowerment and entrepreneurial skills among the engineering colleges in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Uttaranchal.

This is more than proof adequate that the West is losing out to India on more than one count, as the hard work of the sub-continent rings in economic prosperity, reaffirming its faith in its own skills and people. The low self-esteem, the British worked so hard to instil in the sub-continent’s inhabitants, the steady erosion of confidence in itself, the rape and plunder of a rich and fertile land including its people, the constant loot and pillage conducted by the British who were in power; left a once Golden Bird with tarnished feathers and tattered plumage.

Known as the land of milk and honey and described as such, by all who visited India in its ancient past, the British left the sub-continent denuded of its rich forests of teak, sal, mahogany, rosewood, sandalwood and other valuable wood trees, even as, the continuous growth of cash crops (coffee, tea, jute, rubber, in place of rotational wheat, rice, lentils, etc.) left the rich and fertile sub-continental loam unsuitable for agriculture, very much like an incredible army of locusts had held a year long feast on the land. It’s incredibly rich wild life was almost extinguished, as the daily hunting parties of the British saw over 100-tigers shot and killed each day.

While, the Indians pride in their ancient culture and heroic history was destroyed, so too did the British devastate its exotic flora and fauna. But, the economic shambles they left behind is now almost a thing of the past, as India Inc. shows the world and the Indian government what an India United can do. Perhaps, when the Kiss of Mucho Moolah wakes up India’s slumbering Babudom, just as the Prince whose stumbling kiss awoke Sleeping Beauty, then perhaps, will the Government of India take charge of affairs that matter just as much as economic prosperity i.e. a revival of Ancient India’s traditional reverence of Nature and its wondrous creations i.e. both flora and fauna.

I predict that not only will the 21st century be India’s century in the economic field; it will also be India’s century, because the sub-continent will have learnt to balance perfectly, its ancient culture, traditions and spirituality, with modern globalisation that has swept the world off its feet. It will be a Re-Dawning of the Age of the Vedic Culture, as Indians learn the Pot of Gold lies not at the end of the Rainbow, but in their own backyard!

We, the inhabitants of the sub-continent always had it rich, so why and how did the exodus to the West begin? Because, silly, the incredibly arrogant, slyly cunning, deviously devious British convinced a naïve India, as it did other ethnic cultures across the world i.e. the Aborigines of Australia, Africa and Asia, the First Peoples or Natives of North and South America of the superiority of the White Man compared to them and theirs!

That myth now stands exploded and the rest of the world can walk tall, if not taller than the West! Shoulders back, stand straight as an arrow, as tall as our sacred Himalayas, as you let the Oms and the Shantis reverberate and echo around the globe! Right now, the fight for survival of the world’s most ancient religion i.e. Hinduism has begun, as in the Clash of the Civilisations (Christians against Moslems), both Moslems and Christians strive to convert the peoples of the only surviving Hindu land in the world, either completely Moslem or completely Christian!

As far as India and the Indians are concerned, we have learnt from the past, and will not allow history to repeat itself, as we hold on tight to our ancient traditions and culture, our religion, our cultural mores, even as our till rings with the clinking of pennies and dollars! Once again, usher in the Golden Age of India, the stage is set, the time is ripe, the moment is most opportune for India and it’s peoples!