Mohammad Shahabuddin, assistant vice president of India 's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), expects at least seven to eight companies from his country to expand to the Philippines in the next 12 months.
Shahabuddin is part of a NASSCOM delegation that visited the country and met with counterparts from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P).
At least four Indian companies ' Hewitt Associates, ICICI OneSource, Transworks Information Services Ltd., and Perot Systems ' have signified intentions to set up operations in the country.
Shahabuddin likewise expects these BPO companies to grow in capacity of about 500 to 1000 seats in their first year of operations in the Philippines.
As Indian BPO companies strive to become global players, they are looking at expanding geographically to take advantage of cost-efficiency and complementary skills available in countries such as the Philippines.
'Cost and scale are two important factors when companies look to outsource offshore. India and the Philippines are blessed in numbers,' said Shahabuddin, referring to the number of skilled workers available in both countries.
According to NASSCOM, the entire outsourcing industry ' including India and the Philippines ' is addressing only about 10 percent of the potential market.
NASSCOM reported US$6.3 billion in IT-enabled services (ITES) and BPO exports in the recent fiscal year ending March. According to industry figures, the ITES/BPO sector in the Philippines generated $2.4 billion in 2005, employing some 160,000 workers.
NASSCOM and BPA/P signed a memorandum of agreement to work together in seven strategic areas: strategic communications, geographic risk mitigation, shared best practices and adherence to international standards, data security and privacy, workforce development, collaboration and cooperation and infrastructure improvement.