The country?s $14.7-billion business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has not been impacted yet by the ongoing European debt crisis, said Som Mittal, president of National Association of Software & Service Companies (Nasscom). But he is still concerned about where the crisis is heading. Debojyoti Ghosh puts together the Nasscom chief’s viewpoints at the BPO strategy summit, 2010. Excerpts:

How do you see the euro zone debt crisis impacting the growth target of the Indian BPO industry?

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has not been impacted yet by the ongoing European debt crisis. Those countries which got impacted provides for only a small percentage of the business we do. But, surely if this spiral goes beyond a point, we will get affected. But currently we have not seen any discretionary spends being cut.

However we are concerned about the European crisis. We don?t know where it is going. Hopefully, all the efforts that have been made by the European Union will take shape. But there is uncertainty and we are keeping a close watch.

What is your take on the shortage of workforce in the BPO industry?

It?s not about shortage of people, but the new kind of skill wave and training that are required to meet the demand. In the past, when we had a 30% growth rate and a 20% attrition, there was a good pipeline of orders. In the last two years, things changed for the worse. But now growth is back. While we are looking at automation and efficiency, it doesn’t compensate for growth. It is not that we can get 15% productivity increase every year. With big companies now taking measures to set up large training operations and fresh people coming in, attrition will start settling down by September.

How do you see the growth in Indian BPO industry?

India?s BPO industry is expected to post a growth of 15-16% in FY11 backed by increasing demand from overseas clients. People are getting into new areas and it is no longer the kind of outsourcing work that companies used to do before. Now we have the talent and cost efficiency. Specialised work is creating demand for Indian BPOs globally.

What is your view on the outsourcing business in India?

At present, the outsourcing business is a healthy mix of integrated, pure play and captive organisations. Large integrated players generate more than a third of total BPO revenues with 23% of revenue reported from BPO captives. Over 30% captives are focused on research and consulting and legal services.