Mafeking

Bangalore Blasts Threaten Indian Outsourcing

I am not an Indian, but travel to Bangalore regularly. I work in the software sector. IT is certainly not the lifeblood of India, but is does have increasing importance as an important export.

Given the scale of India I doubt very much that the recent bombings will have any effect on the Indian IT industry. Of course for a few days they'll be all over 'The Times of India' and The Hindu' newspapers, but then the events will fade into the background.

The fear will be more acute in Sillicon (sillycon) Valley where everyone fears everything: the water, the air, the food, the pesticides, global warming, the US government, traffic accidents, obesity, salt, sugar, and, of course, bombs.

In India people just smile and go on with their lives free of such neuroses. The many thousands of programmers and business process outsource workers will cheerfully arrive for work the next day whatever happens. The Indian managers will reassure Western companies it will be business as usual. And they'll be right.