India winning higher-status jobs from US

Consulting firm A.T. Kearney recently released a study that made waves on Wall Street. It stated that 500,000 financial-services jobs will be outsourced to India in the next five years. The reason: Top Indian business graduates are viewed as highly competent - and their annual salary of $12,000 pales in comparison with the six figures demanded by top American MBAs.

This year, Ernst & Young started sending tax returns - which far outpace simple data entry in complexity - to its Indian office for processing. About 50 American companies now trust Indians to tabulate some 35,000 returns, a figure that is likely to grow dramatically, experts say.

The Indians charged with this work are chartered accountants. Still, this sector may grow gradually, given that many firms aren't convinced Indians can learn the US tax code thoroughly and are reluctant to outsource such a sensitive process.

Investment banks are also taking a closer look at India's offerings. JP Morgan Chase & Co. said staff in its Bombay office will begin producing research reports on US stocks this summer. There is speculation in the industry that Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley plan to do the same, but neither company has officially announced such intentions.

India is making forays into medicine as well, building on years of experience transcribing dictation for American doctors.

In a small Bangalore office building, Indian radiologists are downloading CT scans done at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, analyzing them, and sending back three-dimensional computer models highlighting problem areas - though not providing official diagnoses.

Wipro, one of India's leading technology companies, has made the arrangement possible by building a telecommunications system that allows several gigabytes of data to be sent between Mass General and Bangalore every day.

Unlike other outsourcing ventures, the primary goal isn't to save money, but to alleviate stress on Mass General's radiology staff, particularly during night shifts.

"It's not really a cost advantage; it's a time advantage," says Sanjay Saini, head of CT services at Mass General and a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. "The best place to do that nighttime work is on the other side of the world, where it's daytime."

But even if there are no savings for Mass General, the hospital is still getting a good return on its investment. The Indian radiologists are doing the work of US medical technicians and earning comparable pay, though their education and training is more like that of American doctors.

Eventually, Dr. Saini hopes to bring Indians to the US to gain medical licenses so they can return to India and offer full patient care services, albeit remotely.

But, he says, that idea is meeting with resistance. Some in the American medical community question the overall quality of Indian medicine - and the privacy safeguards for medical information sent to India.

US $63,331

Poland and Hungary $4,800 to $8,000

India $5,880

Philippines $6,564

Malaysia $7,200

Russian Federation $5,000 to $7,500

China $8,952

Canada $28,174

Ireland $23,000 to $34,000

Israel $15,000 to $38,000

SOURCE: CIO Magazine, Nov. 15, 2002

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