Obama Makes Indian Outsourcers Jittery

He might be the great American change agent. But US presidential candidate

Barack Obama's win could dash the career hopes of many Indians. His fierce antioutsourcing stance—the subject of many a debate in the past—could spell bad news for the BPO firms and the IT industry.

But strangely enough, the results of a recent poll by consulting and market research firm Tecnova shows that 82% of the respondents in India expect Obama to win. In fact, most respondents in India feel that Obama is the right representative for political stability , world peace and financial strength.

With the US going to polls next week, the last leg of the battle is currently on between Democrat presidential candidate Obama and Republican rival John McCain. And it's not just India that is showing confidence in an Obama presidency, the sentiment is similar in other countries as well.

Market research network GlobalNR's findings across 21 countries including India surveyed by Tecnova, indicates that Obama has more positive perceptions as compared to McCain. The recent survey conducted globally among 10,392 people found that on an average 73% were in favour of Obama.

Clearly, India Inc at present has other considerations on mind. The possible negative consequences of an Obama victory on the Indian subcontinent does not seem to be influencing their expectations.

Sujay Sen Gupta, president (global market research) at Tecnova India, says: "Obama has strong reservations on outsourcing and has made many statements during his election

speeches that he would discourage this when he comes into power.

This is definitely not good news for the burgeoning Indian IT and ITeS sector. However, the research results still show very high support for Obama amongst the Indian respondents, which clearly indicates that common people are thinking of other aspects."

Sure enough, Indian observers feel that Obama is more likely to improve international issues such as world peace, global poverty, environment, human rights and the economy. And the survey findings bear testimony to that.

According to the Tecnova research, 54% of the Indian respondents strongly feel that world peace will improve if Obama is elected as the president of the US. And 43% believe that financial stability in the world will improve if Obama comes to power as against only 24% who think the same if Republican presidential candidate McCain comes to power.

More than 49% feel that the environment will improve if Obama wins and more than 51% believe that overall economic condition will improve in the US in the coming 12 months.

The race is on. But positive perceptions and mass public support may have already made the battle easier for Democrat Obama. Another indication, perhaps, of an elusive win for McCain?

Source:Neha Dewan