BPO gaining acceptance: Survey
Houston: According to a survey conducted by IDC, a market research firm and Capgemini, a Consultancy service provider, despite the ongoing backlash in the
US over sending jobs to countries like India, corporates are accepting business process outsourcing (BPO) with offshoring of human resources along with finance and accounting tending to eclipse IT over the next five years.

In a survey of more than 200 participants attending an IDC outsourcing forum: Improving corporate effectiveness through results-driven BPO, conference, nearly 71 per cent respondents said they have already outsourced some of their IT function. Almost 31 per cent of respondents are involved in outsourcing a
portion of their human resources with 24 per cent offshoring part of their finance and accounting.

The survey found that over the next five years, information technology outsourcing will slip to the third most popular business function outsourced, behind HR and F&A, but still in front of global procurement and customer care outsourcing.
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World Bank champions outsourcing
Washington: The World Bank has favoured outsourcing of
jobs and free movement of temporary workers in the mutual interest of high income countries like United States and developing countries like India and China. In a paper titled `Global Monitoring Report' prepared ahead of the meeting of the development committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
assessing the progress in achieving the millennium development goals, the bank has said that countries like India, Philippines, China and South Africa have vast capabilities in information technology.

The paper says it is critical that a pro-development outcome of the Doha Round of trade talks is successful and agreement on some focal points or targets for trade policy reform would give it an impetus. These focal points include `commitments to ensure free
cross-border trade in services delivered via telecommunications networks, complemented by actions to liberalise the temporary movement of service providers'.

The Bank said the services sector is the fastest growing component of world trade. Developing countries have expanded export of services nearly four-fold in the last decade - a faster rate than export of goods.
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Inflation stays at 4.4 per cent.
New Delhi: Inflation stayed unchanged at the previous week's level of 4.4 per cent for the week ended April 10, even as prices fell for wheat, rice, fruits, vegetables and several edible oils.

The point-to-point wholesale price index (WPI) inflation was as high as 6.60 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago which indicating that the cost of living for the common man decreased by
over two per cent during the reported week. The WPI also stood firm at the previous week's level of 180.5 points despite the heavy-weighted manufactured products becoming costlier. The index was
172.9 points in the previous year period.
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Reforms no use in increasing employment says NCAER
New Delhi: National Council for Applied Economic Research has said in its latest bulletin that it will be difficult for the next government to create 50 million
jobs during the current five-year plan till 2007 because of the decline in additional employment creation in agriculture and manufacturing.

NCAER says the employment elasticity of agriculture and manufacturing output growth was very low at 0.006 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively during 1993-00. Employment elasticity measures additional jobs (created or potential) with every unit increase in the economic growth.

NCAER says that while economic reforms initiated since
1991 have led to a higher output growth, it has failed
to generate employment.

Citing NSSO data, the Delhi-based economic think-tank
said growth of employment declined from 2.7 percent during 1983-94 to 1.07 percent during 1994-00, while GDP accelerated from 5.2 percent to 6.7 per cent.
The slowdown in employment generation mainly came from agriculture, mining, quarrying, electricity and gas supply, and community and social services it said.
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