The business process outsourcing segment was expected to register an annual growth of about 60 per cent for the next three years with consolidation of business taking place through takeovers and acquisitions, Kapil Dev Singh, country manager of IDC India, said on Saturday.

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The BPO market in India, which stood at $2.1 billion in 2002, was expected to increase to about $7 billion by 2006, Singh said at the sidelines of a conference on ITeS, 'IT East 2003', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Kolkata.

With the US and European companies finding it more convenient to outsource from India, the segment was likely to sustain a high growth during the coming years and would generate employment for an additional 500,000 people by 2006, he said.

Speaking at the occasion, Oracle India's senior director Richard Alexander said one of the biggest advantages of India was its excellent intellectual capital. "India has over 300 million English speaking population, which is a great advantage."