Som Mittal, President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in India, stated in an interview with the Hindu newspaper this month that the Indian IT industry was projecting towards totals of $300 billion USD per annum in revenue by 2020. Most important in this, according to Mittal, is the rise in the Asian economies vs. the West in terms of GDP expansion, but he states also that the Indian IT industry must adopt a global model to continue to expand successfully. The BPO / Offshoring model, where companies maintain extensive IT centers in India to offset labor costs primarily requires that clients have absolute security and stability in the long term quality of service provided.

“As an indicator of the future, Mr. Mittal pointed out that in 2025, Asia’s (excluding Japan) share of the global Gross Domestic Product was expected to rise at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent, against North America’s projected 3 per cent. To realise this potential, the industry had to leverage on its strengths and adapt to the changed world dynamics, he said. ‘We are an industry which competes fiercely within itself and also collaborates fiercely.’”

“Elaborating, Mr. Mittal said the industry had to look beyond the Fortune 500, and tap into the small and medium businesses. It also had to reduce the heavy dependence on the traditional segments of BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance), Telecom and Manufacturing, and move into public sector and healthcare verticals. In terms of geography, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the Gulf Countries and Japan had potential, he added. ‘The demographic shifts will fuel the growth of new sectors,’ he said.”

Mittal also feels that India could lose as much as 10% of it share in the IT outsourcing market to other countries during the same time period if the country does not maintain and constantly improve its standards. International BPO / IT outsourcing in other regions of Asia such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines could emerge as a strong local challenge, though like China the IT industry in these countries suffer a competitive disadvantage due to the fluency of English in India. But strong developments in Eastern Europe or Latin / South America could also pull global market share in IT outsourcing away from India. Considering the amount of jobs at stake with a 10% loss in the sector, Mittal advises advanced planning to counter these trends and strengthen India’s position in global IT.

According to Wikipedia,

“NASSCOM is the global trade body with over 1200 members, of which over 250 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan and China. NASSCOM’s member companies are in the business of software development, software services, software products, IT-enabled/BPO services and e-commerce. NASSCOM has been the strongest proponent of global free trade in India. NASSCOM strongly supports the elimination of the cap on H-1B visas in the United States as this protectionist anti free market legislation allows overpaid underskilled American nationals to hold jobs which are better and cheaply performed by Indian expatriates.”

Outsourcing is also becoming a political issue in the United States with laws proposed to tax companies that employ overseas labor at a higher rate, and of course the H-1B visa cap. The statement on NASSCOM’s wiki page seems more inflammatory than diplomatic, and harsh words combined with nationalism are going to be a poor choice for any side. I tend to agree that the H1-B Visa cap is protectionist, but a wider look at immigration policy would also show that applicants for H1-Bs have a much higher range of social opportunity than their peers – they are not exactly a hard luck group in comparison.

How can an American IT firm really compete with an Indian IT firm in labor costs, or pay a programmer $50,000 – $80,000+ when the same job is done at $6,000 – $12,000 in India? To be sure the last 10 years of economic development has produced one of the largest classes of highly trained IT workers in the world, and the educational & infrastructure resources continue to expand in quality & extent in India. The NASSCOM website is recommended to keep on top of what is going on in India IT – there are many conferences, seminars, blogs, forums, and press releases on file:

http://www.nasscom.in/

“NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM’s member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services offshoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.24 million professionals.”

“NASSCOM was set up in 1988, at Mumbai to facilitate business and trade in software and services and to encourage advancement of research in software technology.”

How does Mittal’s projection compare to the current situation? According to NASSCOM, Indian IT recorded a record total of $87 billion USD in total revenue in 2008.

This is a post from Web Dev News, a site brought to you by Xavisys Web Development.

Som Mittal / NASSCOM – India IT at $300 Billion in Revenue by 2020

If you are a freelance web designer, developer, graphic artist, or outsourcing service provider, there are a wide range of sites available on the web to connect with other people to build new business. We take a look at some of the best of these that should be on your short list, and review some of the pros and cons of each. Freelancers should make one site that they feel most comfortable with their base of operations, building accounts and feedback on the site for core business, while keeping aware of the new posts and new projects being offered on others to catch the ones that are most relevant to their area of specialization. The competition on freelance websites is strong among service providers, and the rates can be quite low when set in an international context. Developers may find it valuable to build a support team through these sites as well when the work load becomes too heavy. The sites vary as to whether they require a paid membership and what commission they take from service providers and buyers. Smart management and attention to details will help you reduce your costs, but as always – caveat emptor. Make sure you test providers by giving a small project to complete before diving into a large project. You’ll want to confirm the working relationship, communication, and production quality before making any large commitments or site changes.

Freelance Web Development – Site List:

1. odesk.com

Without a doubt the best freelance site on the web today. From the number of jobs listed and the quality of development projects, to the innovative billing, collaboration, and work monitoring options, oDesk is recommended for developers and service buyers for any project.

2. getafreelancer.com

GAF, or getafreelancer.com, has one of the most active user communities for freelance project development. The quality of projects isn’t always great here, but the volume of bidding and the prices are low. Recently opened a Euro branch of the site, so may split business between the two, weakening overall brand and community.

3. elance.com

eLance is owned by eBay and as such attracts a fair number of high quality project listings, and a lot of freelancers are doing really well here. However, their subscription fees for connects have you basically paying for every bid you make on site, and extra fees for extra categories, etc. Worth it if you take the time to build a presence on site and manage it like your eBay store.

4. rentacoder.com

RentACoder doesn’t have the best design, but gets a lot of project traffic and has a lot of options. The user interface is somewhat counter-intuitive and intrusive, but the site boasts the largest number of completed software development projects of any of the freelance boards and some good projects do come through the vine here.

5. getacoder.com

GetACoder is a nice site, and some good projects seem to come through here on occasion, but it also has a site marketing campaign that makes it feel as if you are working on a ClickBank site. Overall, a mixed bag but worth watching for occasional gems.

5. scriptlance.com

Scriptlance is a good place for programming projects and finding web developers, a middle of the road site with about 200 new projects a day. Domain name and traffic are excellent, so expect this site to grow and improve over time. Still one of the main boards to watch for new jobs.

7. guru.com

Guru should be a much better site for freelance than it is currently, with a great domain and design. But doesn’t get much traffic, and costly for freelancers for a yearly account. Good to monitor and you may get a top quality contract from the site with a lot of activity, but not really much business here generally.

8. serebra.com

One of the newest of the main freelance sites, launched with a large PPC ad campaign to bring traffic, but Canada specific interest makes it kind of limited overall. Big budget, promotions, and a lot of hype – may turn out to be a good place to network for big contracts. Nice site design overall.

9. sologig.com

Sologig is another underperforming freelance site, worth watching and building a presence on for the reference or occasional contract, but not to be expected to provide steady work. Maybe a good place for consultants to meet up with corporations seeking specialists, should become better over time.

10. Sourceforge Marketplace

Sourceforge being the main development repository for so many Open Source projects really should be a natural place to find programmers. The Marketplace isn’t as developed or active as it could be, but a good place to network your services and find new clients.

Second Level Freelance Sites:

Maybe worth a look – some good jobs & resources

http://www.gofreelance.com/
http://www.freelance.com/
http://www.drupaljob.com/forum
http://www.eoola.com/
http://freelanceswitch.com/

Third Level Freelance Sites:

Industry related but not much going on here

http://www.freelanceindia.com/
http://www.freelancedesigners.com/
http://www.ifreelance.com/
http://www.allfreelance.com/
http://www.freelancewriting.com/
http://www.freelancerstore.com/
http://www.freelancefree.com/
http://www.freelancers.net/
http://www.freelanceuk.com/
http://www.outsourcetoday.net/
http://www.profreelancejob.com/

This is a post from Web Dev News, a site brought to you by Xavisys Web Development.

Freelance Web Design – Top Sites