By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 3, 2004; 6:31 PM
BOMBAY, India - Outsourcing information technology-related jobs to developing countries such as India will boost competitiveness and slash costs, international software experts and government ministers said Tuesday.
"We are not going to put up barriers to protect U.K. firms from tough competition from India," British Energy Minister Stephen Timms told some 900 delegates from India, Taiwan, Mauritius, the United States, Canada and Britain participating in a global high-tech conference.
"It's a great business opportunity for U.S. businesses because it makes IT available for a wide swathe of U.S. companies," said Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute.
More jobs in developing countries would build "larger middle classes and create a larger market for U.S. products in the future," Griswold said.
Participants in the three-day conference, which began Tuesday, will discuss global economic growth from outsourcing, the impact of the high-tech industry on the global economy and immigration trends to developed countries.
"We know those Indian companies will benefit the U.K. economy and strengthen it," Timms said.
He also said two Indian information-technology companies, Tata Consultancy Services and Mastek, last week won a British government contract to improve the IT infrastructure of the National Health Service.
"A large part of the work on that contract will be outsourced to India," Timms said.
The British government recognized that Indian industry could "help us in our task of improving and modernizing our public health services," he said.
More than 450 Indian companies operate in Britain, which is India's second-largest trading partner after the United States.
