If Silicon Valley thought that crackdowns on immigration in the U.S. would mean their favorite foreign worker would be hightailing it back to Bangalore, they are wrong.
Over the next three to five years, India will need around 40% less people than they current need for their labor arbitrage-based work, meaning outsourcing, or moving tech related service jobs to where the service can be done cheaper. Second, the real software and digital tech talent usually needs to be located in IT India’s main markets, which are the U.S. and Europe. Third, IT India has “over-hired” entry level computer science graduates and have too many mid-level employees who need training for the digital worlds being created on the backs of new technology like blockchain and artificial intelligence. The result is the continual churn of India’s IT employee base back home, says Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of the Everest Group, a global consulting firm with its headquarters in Dallas.
In the early 2000s, industry analysts said India’s advantage as a source for cheap tech talent would end by 2020. The consensus was that as wages rise in the U.S., it might just be easier for the Indian firms to move some labor back home.
“There is no doubt that India is still a a highly attractive and viable option for low-cost labor…and it will likely remain so for another three decades,” Michel Janssen, Chief Researcher at Everest, said. They now think India remains a hub for low cost tech talent way out into the 2040s!
