India Inc HAPPY with Obama's win; outsourcing still a worry

Leaders of India Inc on Wednesday welcomed the re-election of Barack Obama as the US President saying that continuity will be good for bilateral relations, but some of them expressed concerns over the outsourcing issue.

"This is a good development for India. Between two large economies there will be issues and concerns.

"Outsourcing is also a concern and I hope it will be addressed soon," Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on India in Gurgaon.

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Expressing similar views, Bharti Group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: "It is on expected lines but there was some heat reported in the last few days. I think it will be good for India. There will be continuity."

Asked about concerns over outsourcing he said: "I have heard this in the previous election.

"We saw Clinton go very heavy on outsourcing and we did not see anyone of these impacting our outsourcing business or relationships."

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Obama has won a second term in office overcoming a stiff initial challenge from his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

During the presidential campaign, Obama had criticised outsourcing of jobs to countries like India saying that US needs to create jobs locally.

The US and European markets account for over 80 per cent of revenues of the Indian IT industry.

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However, NIIT chairman Rajendra S Pawar said that with the election, the rhetoric is also over and "we are back to business.

"It is good for America and Indian IT sector."

Business process outsourcing industry veteran and former chief executive officer of Genpact Pramod Bhasin, however, said the issue of outsourcing was more than a plain election rhetoric.

"I think there will be greater implications as he (Obama) focusses on issues like unemployment. I just hope he remains true to free trade and all the other things that he talks about so well," he said.