India managed to escape the worst of the global downturn and is poised, along with China, to lead the global economy out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Confidence is returning, with the stock market up 70 percent this year. A rousing re-election win for the Congress party in May has spurred expectations that long-delayed financial sector reforms will be implemented and sorely needed infrastructure investment will accelerate.
 
Still, questions linger. Global demand that drives India’s once red-hot outsourcing sector is slow in returning. Companies that hoarded cash to tide themselves through the downturn are wary of adding capacity until there are clear signs of demand. Consumer spending is being driven by stimulus measures that are unsustainable. The government is hamstrung by a stubbornly high fiscal deficit.
 
Other challenges include India’s infamous red tape, the threat of inflation in a fast-growing economy prone to bottlenecks, widespread poverty, and infrastructure that is inadequate to support a rapidly urbanising population of more than one billion.
 
Top executives and bankers will discuss their own plans and the broader opportunities and challenges for Asia’s third-largest economy during the Reuters India Investment Summit in Mumbai and Bangalore, which will generate exclusive stories, video and analysis. These will be immediately available only to Thomson Reuters clients during each Summit.

At the Reuters India Investment Summit we asked Managing Partner of IBM Global Services Sandip Patel about the first thing he would like to outsource from his daily life. His response, perhaps instinctively, was automating the cleanup of thousands of his emails.

Anantha Radhakrishnan, Vice President at Infosys BPO, yearned for extended telecommuting to cut down on travel time (and probably cost as well!!) when asked the same question.

Evidently, productivity improvements and radical cost-cutting measures are weighing heavily on the minds of corporate big wigs these days.

The BPO services industry, which was once able to fund disproportionately high wages and lavish perks for employees, is now plagued with rumours of disappearing stationary and depleting entertainment budgets all in the name of cutting costs.

Head honcho of outsourcing giant Genpact, Pramod Bhasin even expressed delight at the plight of BPO professionals who are being forced to settle for slower wage growth, disappearing perks and restricted job hopping.

“We got no guarantees when we were young. We had to work hard and with some of this notion coming back I tell you I look forward to it,” Bhasin said.

A comment that perhaps several would like to contest passionately.

To hear Patel’s comment click here.

To hear Radhakrishnan’s comment click here.

To hear Bhasin’s comment click here.

The executives were featured during the summit, held in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

Hollywood and Bollywood screenwriters must beware. Their creativity stands no chance against the “cataclysmic” global financial crisis’ talent for script writing if Infosys BPO’s Anantha Radhakrishnan is to be believed.

In these “turbulent and tumultuous” times, the script being crafted by the crisis promises to “differentiate the men from the boys” in the business process outsourcing industry, with deep-pocketed firms expected to brace their way through the storm, according to Radhakrishnan, a vice president at the outsourcing firm.

But not before electric fluctuations in the currency market play their course, and bitter and desperate price battles are fought and won. Multi-stranded epics starring Amitabh Bachchan have to hang their heads in shame.

And all this amid heart-stopping uncertainty of the Hitchcockian variety.

“When you go to bed, you don’t know which is the next big guy on the block which is being taken into ICU or being salvaged or bailed out by the government,” Radhakrishnan said at the Reuters India Investment Summit. To hear his comment click here.

Click here to listen to some more comments from Radhakrishnan, who was one of the featured guests during the summit, held in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

One would expect a top executive of the world’s largest software services provider to hang out with the latest gadgets. Sandip Patel, Managing Partner for IBM Global Business Services in South Asia, seems to be quite the contrarian.

He is antagonized by even the most common gadget to adorn executive pockets in these times.

“I haven’t yet succumbed to the Blackberry,” Patel confessed when asked what phone he carries. He spoke at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

He proudly pulled out a well-worn Nokia E90 and admitted he wasn’t much of a gadget guy and just liked a good solid phone.

The Bangalore-based executive disapproved of the intrusive nature of communication technology today and said the “propensity and reliance” on these contraptions was rather out of control in India. To hear Patel’s comments click here.

Patel was one of the featured guests during the summit, held in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

As the global economic turmoil rages on and shows no sign of abating, Genpact Chief Executive Pramod Bhasin believes “wait and watch” is the flavour of the season for business process outsourcing firms.

The flavour seems bitter for now.

Over the past few years, BPO services firms armed with competitive, English-speaking professionals working for relatively cheap wages have cashed in on an outsourcing boom. But they are now experiencing a lull in growth as the U.S. economy faces one of the worst crises in history.

Amid such grim conditions, CEO Bhasin doesn’t care to track his company’s stock price. “I don’t even know what my own share price was yesterday, for instance, and I don’t normally look,” he said. To hear the comment click here.

Genpact shares have lost almost half their value this year. Not a pretty sight.

But there’s still some hope for Bhasin on the flavour front. He hopes the company’s Moroccan venture is a success, because Morocco is a “great place to eat.” To hear the comment click here.

Bhasin was one of the featured guests during the summit, held in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India

It’s not just the global economic crisis that is weighing on Genpact Chief Executive Pramod Bhasin’s mind, but also several home-grown concerns.

Nothing works in India, Bhasin said, and rattled off a list of public utilities from water and power to security and transportation.

“Indian entrepreneurs are dragging us into the 21st century and our public services are dragging us back into the 18th century,” he said at the Reuters India Investment Summit. To listen to the comment, click here.

Bhasin wasn’t very appreciative of the Indian youth either.

A lot of young people today want to be capitalist when the returns are good and turn immediately socialist when their jobs are threatened, the head of India’s largest business process outsourcing firm said. To hear the comment, click here.

Wonder what he has to say about companies who are capitalist when the going is good but turn socialist when it comes to bailouts.

Bhasin was one of the featured guests during the summit, held in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

India has seen 9 percent-plus economic growth for the past three years and many thought it would remain relatively immune to the global financial crisis and the subsequent slowdown. But its stock market has tumbled 50 percent this year and all the signs point to a sharper slowdown than most were anticipating.
 
 
Corporate expansion plans, capital raising and partial privatisations by the government have all had to go on hold as investors, foreign and domestic, have run scared before the storm which has ripped through financial markets worldwide. Politicians too face a tough year, with national elections due in early 2009 and millions of voters for whom a first car, apartment or refrigerator is once again moving out of reach. 
 
 
What does all this mean for India’s transformation into an Asian powerhouse? Will it set the country’s infrastructure and commercial development back several years or is it just a blip?
 
 
Some of the country’s most influential figures will discuss these topics and their own firms’ plans to ride out the slowdown at the Reuters India Investment Summit, which will generate a package of exclusive stories, online videos, blogs and analysis.

Try the fact that in the youth-skewing software services industry, young people, fresh out of school, are leading entire teams of people.

You have dynamics where 18-year olds are managed by 19-year olds, are managed by 22-year olds, and they have an awful lot of power,? MphasiS Managing Director Deepak Patel said at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

So a key worry is whether team members and employees are being properly taken care of, he added.

Patel was one of the featured guests on the final day of the summit, held in Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

To hear Patels comment, click on mphasis_worries.mp3

As Wipro looks to expand its global footprint and develop new capabilities, the inorganic route is always an option.

But the company is not on the lookout for cheap buys, Suresh Senapaty, CFO of Wipro, said at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

Senapaty was one of the featured speakers at the summit, which brings exclusive news and views from leading corporate and banking executives.

To hear Senapatys comment, click on wipro_no_cheap_buys.mp3

The kind of investments one makes tells a lot about the risks one is willing to take. But do they also suggest something about the companies these individuals run?

At the Reuters India Investment Summit, two of Indias top IT executives shared how they would invest a $50 million bounty.

Suresh Senapaty, CFO of Wipro, would not hesitate putting the money to work in stocks of decently managed? companies. But he shies from short-term punting. 

On the flip side, Infosys CEO S. Gopalakrishnan prefers the safety that mutual funds and bonds offer. I dont dabble in the stock market and things like that,? he said. 

But a significant portion of his investments is still in Infosys, a company he helped set up.

Gopalakrishnan and Senapaty were featured guests on the final day of the summit, held in Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

To hear Senapatys comment, click on wipro_investment.mp3

To hear Gopalakrishnans comment, click on infosys_investment.mp3