RP to match India’s $9b outsourcing business

LAHUG, Cebu—President Gloria Arroyo said here Thursday the Philippines’ business process outsourcing industry could match India’s $9-billion market this year, with employment in the sector projected to reach 550,000 by December.

“From scratch, with only 2,000 workers before I became President, we have now created a global powerhouse of our BPO industry,” Mrs. Arroyo said in a chance interview during her visit to the Qualfon Contact Services in Lahug.

“We have achieved this by investing in digital infrastructure, formulating appropriate policy, creating the legal environment, and developing human capital.” she said.

The BPO sector made only $24 million in 2001, but last year it earned $7.3 billion.

Ray Anthony Chua, head of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology, said the local sector hoped to corner a 10th of the global market this year, and that it was expected to grow by 25 percent in 2010.

“We will likely match India’s $9-billion industry this year, because even their own BPO companies are transferring and relocating their operations here,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

She cited the $2.5-million facility of the Indian firm Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. at the Eastwood Cyberpark in Quezon City that she launched last week, and which marked the start of her tour of the country’s Cyber Corridor super region from Luzon to Mindanao.

Mrs. Arroyo has since visited various BPO facilities in Taguig, Pampanga, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao and Batangas. –Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today