Pakistan’s Software Industry

Re: # 226

Your vision sir is brilliant....

Only now, given the exposure to the first hand news in the Daily Times Newsroom where I am currently employed, have I begun to see the wisdom of a lot of what you`ve been saying for years here.

Like I said before ... it is the misfortune of Pakistan and Pakistanis, that balanced human beings like yourself are not involved in policy making.

#230 by Mantolives on March 15, 2005 5:54am PT


Now Midday does not exist.


It doesn`t...to most people outside bombay...And mid-day is a tabloid(literally) that`s more famous for the mid-day mate(a picture of a hot girl on page 2 I think) and the news about the shahid kapoor kareena kapoor kiss...

re:#208 by amit
Ha, ha.
Man, you are pathetic. Either that or you are a Punjabee. In either case, it does not matter.
You actually think India and Pak can form an alliance! Which world do u live in? Pak is still ruled by a military dictator who calls the shots. ISI agents from Pak are active in the Northeast, bangladesh and more recently even in the interiors (ever read the story about planned attacks on IMA, IT centers in Bangalore?).
So, forget about allinance or even friendship. If India and Pak can enforce a detente and decide to co-operate through trade and people to people exchange, that will be a big step. India should try to enforce democracy in Pak by mobilizing public opinion through the above measures.
US is the only stabilizing force in the region. You are perhaps not aware of the role that US is actively playing in bringing about a detente between India and Pak. Do u think Mushy would wind up the jehadi apparatus in Pak without pressure from USA? It is the big (unseen) stick that US is wielding that is seeing the 2 countries come together. Without the US pressure onIndia, latter would be averse to a rapproachment with a military dictator (and the one who engineered Kargil at that).
So, see the facts for what they are and learn from them.
Peace with Pak is good for India`s prosperity. Pak, otherwise, is a basket case and there is nothing much in it for India.
Sridhar

Re: # 229

It is ironic... how the memory fails our Indian friends, every time something or someone goes against their closely held biases and prejudices.

Now Midday does not exist.

Tomorrow... Khushwant Singh would be an urban legend.

re:#174 by satyamvada
Who the hell is Aakar Patel anyway? Never heard of him. I would take notice if someone like Saed Naqvi had written that article. And, Midday? Never heard much of that paper but considering Farzanabibi of Chowk writes for that newspaper, you can be sure it is not of high quality.
Sridhar

#223 by tahmed32

[harish: I didnt read your post addressed to me, since there are enough freaks like you on chowk who are neither capable of civilized discussion nor capable of discussing anything other than your obsession with trying to belittle Pakistan. So have a nice day.]

So what else is new? After so many years of Chowk, if I have come to know something about you, it is that you just tuck your tail between your legs and vanish when confronted with facts.

After all, you are a Paki Army Officer’s son, and what would you do other than defend the frikkin rogue Army that has been your family`s bread and butter?

Here are some lessons for budding BPO entrepreneurs: Growing pains??
(http://us.rediff.com/money/2005/mar/15bpo.htm)

some excerpts...

All`s not well with Indian BPOs!

In 2000, many global companies started moving back-office services to India. Their one-point-agenda: slash costs by at least 40 per cent by offshoring.

Since then, business for Indian companies has been booming. In 2003-04, Indian exports in BPO-ITES (business process outsourcing and information technology enabled services) was $3.6 billion (Rs 15,800-odd crore), up from $2.5 billion in 2002-03 (Source: Nasscom). Indian call centres account for roughly 25 per cent of that.

But all`s not well. Four years after becoming a back-office to the West, Indian BPOs are discovering that cost control is similar to shooting in a landscape of moving targets -- bring one down and three more emerge.

While employee salaries have gone up by an average of 20 per cent every year, the average revenue per hour (for a single terminal) has declined by about 15 per cent over the past three years, from $14 to $12.

---

The impact of the price slash and the depreciating dollar? If three years ago, a BPO earned close to Rs 700 an hour, it now gets just over Rs 500 for the same effort.

At the same time, hiring new talent has become more expensive. In 1999, the average pay packet for an entry level agent was Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000. That`s gone up now to between Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000. Costs go up further because companies have to maintain what Bhinde calls a ``rostering buffer``, for scheduling manpower. BPOs need a 10 to 15 per cent surplus staff on their rolls because although the office is open all seven days, employees work five-day weeks.

The bench strength also compensates for attrition. Then, BPOs have an added cost -- picking up and dropping employees at their residence, given that most of the work happens during the night. This works out to roughly Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,000 an agent every month. Some organisations even provide meals and snacks to their employees, taking the costs up even higher. ``BPO employees are a fairly pampered lot,`` says Mukerji.

Still, employee attrition is not getting any better. Industry sources claim that attrition levels in BPOs are sky-high: depending on attrition levels, a BPO could be looking at an entirely new set of employees every three to 10 months.

In specific BPO zones, like the Mindspace complex in suburban Mumbai, employee attrition is a joke. ``If you reach the wrong floor, you`ll be recruited,`` quips Bhinde. BPOs like ICICI OneSource claim that an attrition level of 5 to 6 per cent every month (65 per cent a year) is perhaps closer to the truth.

For every employee who quits, a company spends another Rs 40,000 to Rs 55,000 in recruiting and training a replacement. Even after training, it takes the new employee at least three months to reach an optimum productivity level. ``There`s a shortage of people,`` points out Roy.

The yawning gap between demand and supply could be increasing. As of March, 2004, the number of people working in the BPO sector in India was around 245,500. By 2008, the segment is expected to employ over 1.1 million people, according to a joint study by Nasscom and management consultancy McKinsey.

Some of the big cities are already running into trouble. There`s no dearth of applicants, but finding the right candidate is always a problem. At present, for every 100 applicants in Mumbai, just one or two make the cut. Four years ago, the success rate was 20 per cent.

YLH #225 Actually, Khan did more than steal technology - he then re-sold it for personal gain. As I said, there are hundreds of unsung heroes in Pakistan who built this bomb as a great team effort. Even the national leaders - despite their many failings - were united on this one project. Pakistan would have built this bomb with or without Khan. Like the Manhatten Project (which resulted in the US bomb, and which of course was the real breakthrough, being the very first one), this project serves as an example of what Pakistanis are capable of when they set their minds to it.

With political stability and peace in the region, Pakistanis will in due course demonstrate their mettle as producers of commercial goods and services as well. While Pakistan has a good geo-strategic location (and no doubt the motorways and gwadar are paving the way for Pakistan to serve as a cross-roads in future), its real assets are its people who are as hard working and enterprising as any on earth.

Re: # 197

More stupidity....

Malkay.... you are wrong... the only thing A Q Khan has done is steal technology. He is a materials` scientist... with no training in nuclear physics...

unless... jibrail has restarted the process of wahi... there is no way ... A Q Khan is responsible for Pakistan`s nuclear programme.

Maybe we should declare the Dutch our national heroes.

Re: # 183

Thank you Prashant for exposing your true identity...

A visit to Lahore would open anyone`s mind except Veeresh`s ... but it is quite impossible with you.

harish: I didnt read your post addressed to me, since there are enough freaks like you on chowk who are neither capable of civilized discussion nor capable of discussing anything other than your obsession with trying to belittle Pakistan. So have a nice day.

#198 by tahmed32

It is hilarious to some see Pakis supporting Xerox Khan and you despising him all out. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Those who are accusing Khan of being the mastermind behind the nuclear Wal Mart are probably forgetting the fact that in a country where the Paki Army has such a stranglehold on every aspect of a Paki`s (more so a prominent Paki like AQ Khan) life, how could he get away with transferring complete centrifuges on PAF C-130s without the Army/ISI knowing it?

Having said that, it is a shame that AQ Khan allowed himself to be used by the Army, enriching himself as if there is no tomorrow, and then shamefully confessing to his guilt on TV.

Khan is as much a victim of his own greed and ambition as he is of the Paki Army`s double-facedness. The Paki Army that once hailed him as the father of Pakistan`s bomb, wasted no time in consigning him to the refuse bin, once it got too untenable for them to defend their position. I do not feel as much sorry for him as I feel for the US which still innocently believes (or does it?) that the Paki Army, and Mushy in particular, had nothing to do with the whole thing.

I am really wary of some `Indian` muslims like Vertex who proudly express support for the Kashmiri separatist movement , have a soft corner for Pakistan , and yet warn Indians to be scared of The Big Satan - USA , who they say is out to colonise and destroy India. Helpfully they suggest an alliance with Pakistan and other Lands of the Pure like Iran to combat The Great Satan.... And anybody who does not agree with their perception of US has sold out to the White Master....

Indians need to be very wary of these people. Recently , while this cricket thing was going on , about 5 terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba were caught red-handed by the police. Heavily armed with RDX , AK-47 and advanced communication systems ,they had planned to conduct suicide attacks on the Indian Military Academy and major software companies in Bangalore. The interesting part is , 3 of the 5 were born and bred in India. Indian muslims from Bihar and UP. Police are still searching for the mastermind behind this - also an Indian muslim.

A few months back , when a female Lashkar-e-Toiba agent called Ishrat Jehan (an `Indian` muslim from Mumbra ,Mumbai , mind you) was shot down by the police , the whole of Mumbra town - [referred to as Mini Pakistan for the locals there are famous for bursting crackers after every Pakistani victory over India in cricket] - came to a standstill. Ishrat was hailed as a martyr for the sake of Islam. And then there was this case in Hyderabad where the entire muslim community rioted when a maulvi called Naseeruddin was arrested for his links with the ISI of Pakistan...there are many such incidents which prove that Indian muslims...atleast a significant section of Indian muslims...are hand in glove with the enemies of India.

I dont know how India will deal with this threat. Around 160 million muslims live in Inida. Most of them are doctrinated by their religion and their mullahs to despise India. Even if just 1-2% of them are actively involved in anti-national activities...they make up for a huge number.....We are talking about 2 million active or potential Pakistani agents in India.

IT revenues seen topping $28bn

March 14, 2005 13:51 IST

Continuing with the remarkable double-digit growth, Indian IT and ITeS revenues is expected to exceed $28 billion in 2004-05 from $21.5 billion in 2003-04 with ITeS-BPO as the fastest growing segment in the wake of changing global services landscape, Nasscom`s Strategic Review for 2005 said.

``The Indian IT and ITeS industry continues to chart double-digit growth with industry aggregate including hardware for the current fiscal (2004-05) expected to reach $28.2 ``, the Review said.

Giving a composition of sectoral contribution, it said IT services and software is slated to contribute 58.6 per cent to the overall IT industry revenue in FY05 (as against 59.4 per cent in FY04) while ITeS-BPO is likely to account for 20.1 per cent.

Re: # 216 Ferozk

``Since the liberal politicans did not have any power base here, they used religion to gain political legitimacy and that gave the mullah a taste of political power. This also explains, why the mullahs went from hating the idea of Pakistan to becoming ``

That is the most pathetic attempt I have seen on chowk to colour the TNT and accomodate Jinnah. The fundamental reason for mullah power is simple, no one has dared to answer the question, ``pakistan ka matlab kya``. Answer based on one speach by jinnah is contradicted by his entire life time of actions.

It is time taht people like you, the educated pakistanis accept that pakistan is an islamic republic and move accordingly rather than putting up pretences. There is nothing wrong with hoodood and honour killings.

aslam #207 They certainly have a foothold with their direct retail. It will be interesting to see how they fare in the years ahead in this highly competitive business with tough players like Dell and no doubt the chinese will be coming to europe in due course with their own PC.