This topic has been the subject of discussion in many a top Business Schools of the world over the years. The experts know, and the major organizations of the world swear by the fact that India is doing some really good work in the field of business outsourcing. Even President Obama has acknowledged the fact that India is revolutionizing the business world by being the perfect host for business processes. For those who know a thing or two about today's business world, outsourcing (offshoring, to be precise), means India.

In India, outsourcing is big. Through International BPOs and Call Centers, the projects outsourced by various big organizations of the world to India are generating about $50 billion annually [as per Reuters]. No other offshoring destination in the world manages to generate even half of that figure. Most of the major organizations of the world, including half of the Fortune 500 list, have their presence in India through their outsourced projects. Western organizations are either setting-up their own offshore facilities in India or partnering with other domestic and international outsourcing solutions providers in India to utilize their back office facilities.

Outsourcing hit the Indian shores more than a decade ago and the concept has been growing steadily in India as well as internationally. Over the last 5 years, India has seen tremendous growth in this sector with more and more International companies outsourcing their businesses to India. The rise of the outsourcing sector in India can be attributed to the fact that "compared to any other outsourcing destination of the world, India has more benefits to offer".

As the various business organizations of the world have experienced, the costs associated with the operation of business process (of any type) are considerably less in India. Some people argue saying, "this is the case with almost every developing country", but what they fail to understand is that the complete package of benefits experienced by companies through outsourcing to India involves more than just low costs of operations.

India is a diverse country comprising of a great mix of talent when it comes to human resources. Almost half of the population in India is under 25 years of age and the literacy rate is now almost 80% with more than 60% people able to speak, write and understand the English language. When you consider the fact that India's present population stands at 1.2 Billion, it makes the country a hub for talented youth that is educated and competent to work for International companies. The English speaking, professionally-oriented youth of India has already made a significant contribution to a number of businesses outsourced to India and the results are there to see for the rest of the world.

The living standards in India are reasonable and so are the average minimum wages. Compared to the western countries like USA, the labor is quite cheap. The government policies in India are favorable, allowing great benefits to the companies that are investing in India by offshoring their business processes. The communication means, the infrastructure facilities and the technology available in India have improved tremendously over the last 5 years and can now be termed as world-class. The rise of Indian outsourcing solutions providers (having international exposure and expertise, and backed by their local knowledge) has been another factor that has made India the favorite outsourcing destination for the West.

Based on these benefits and many more, companies that have outsourced their business processes and call centers to India have experienced considerable cost savings, increased profits, improved service delivery, and optimized performance enabling them to record high profits consistently. Clearly, when companies around the world say outsourcing/offshoring, they really mean India.

Outsourcing/Offshoring is the concept that has been proven over the years through practice and implementation in business operations to decrease costs and increase profits. What started as a move to relocate a few of the business process from the costly western market to the more cost-effective eastern shores, has now evolved into a wave that many organizations around the world are riding to make better use of their resources and create sustained profits.

The practice of business process outsourcing has been around for a long time. In order to improve the performance of their business processes (usually the support processes), companies have been seeking expertise from other companies (usually specialists in a particular domain) within the same market. This laid the foundation for business process outsourcing.

When the concept of outsourcing to offshore locations (offshoring) gained prominence almost a decade ago, companies realized that in addition to seeking assistance for performance optimization, they can now have access to specialized and dedicated services (in any domain) to support their business, and this can be done at very low costs. This was the rationale that resulted in the conceptualization and the subsequent creation of offshore business destinations for the West; mainly in the form of developing countries like India.

Over the years and as a result of the consistent evolution in the ways and methods of outsourcing to offshore locations, it is now established that offshoring can actually mean a bundle of benefits for western businesses, especially for the US-based firms.

Apart from the low costs of operations, businesses have experienced various other benefits from outsourcing their processes (usually support processes) to offshore locations. Offshoring of support services such as customer services, technical support, back office support etc. has enabled organizations to seek the expertise of companies that specialize in managing these support services. Outsourcing has also allowed companies to concentrate on their core business processes while the outsourcing partner looks after their outsourced support processes. Outsourcing of support services has also allowed organizations to free-up the costly office space along with allowing them to utilize their workforce in optimizing the core business process. Companies no longer need to invest in acquiring expertise to run their support services since the outsourcing partner takes care of all these factors.

The cost of labor in offshore locations like India is very less. Businesses can employ three agents in the eastern countries at the same cost of employing a single agent in the USA. The popularity of BPO and Call Center Jobs in the eastern countries has captured the fancy of the talented youth there, and working for a western organization or an international organization (in any sphere of business) is quite a valued proposition. This diverts the able workforce of the developing countries towards excelling in the professional fields of BPO and Call Center services. As a result, western organizations through offshoring have access to a highly qualified and capable workforce to carry out their support services.

With their outsourced projects, organizations can monitor the performance of the operations and have total control over the processes in the same way they have with their in-house projects. For companies to experience international standards of service at low costs through offshoring, it is important to tie-up with a reputed outsourcing solutions provider. Companies can also gain a great insight into their support functions through the acquired expertise, business strategies, innovative ideas and latest technological solutions that an established outsourcing company usually provides based on its market research and analysis.

When we consider the fact that outsourcing to offshore locations also enables companies to considerably improve and speed-up service delivery, optimize their use of resources, reduce service lags and delays, decrease expenditure, and accentuate profits, no wonder more and more businesses around the globe are now keen on offshoring.