Amidst the unprecedented economic downturn, the industry's marketing mantra of cost reduction alone is no longer sufficient to win customers. To compete with other low-cost destinations, Indian outsource providers must go beyond cost reduction solutions and move up the value chain by offering strategic solutions. However, the industry leader TCS continued to drive the new growth prospects.

No industry could escape the impact of the global economic slowdown. India's $60 bn IT-BPO sector is no exception to that. However, the sector has had an incredible history and grown from mere $4 bn in 1998 to a $52-bn sector in 2008, employing over 2 million people. In the past, the industry proved itself resilient by dealing successfully with the uncertainty created by the dotcom crash in 2001. After the dotcom meltdown, it staged a major recovery to boom over the next five years, registering a 30% annual growth until fiscal 2008.

The growth rate declined sharply to 16% in fiscal 2008. It faced a brutal year in many respects, as companies and customers were passing through a terrible twinge. Top companies like Infosys Technologies and Wipro have admitted that their revenues are under pressure. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), an industry body, has estimated that the Indian IT-BPO services sector will grow by a mere 4-7% in the current fiscal. In 2008-09, it posted revenues of $59 bn, with exports contributing $46 bn and domestic business $13 bn. NASSCOM has estimated the software exports to be at $48-50 bn and the domestic revenues to grow 15-18% this fiscal. These projects indicate that the industry is far from returning to the golden pre-recession days.

The Analyst Magazine, Global Economic Slowdown, Information Technology, IT, Strategic Solutions, Dotcom Meltdown, National Association of Software and Service Companies, NASSCOM, Global Slump, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, BFSI.