It is official now. We are in the midst of a slowdown. So what happens to your entire outsourcing plan? Your offshoring plan? Elementary — you are told by your sourcing consultant — a slowdown means more pressure on bottom line, so more the reason to do offshoring. And if you have a mature offshoring activity — with stable operations — that makes a lot of sense.

But if you are just beginning the journey; or if your offshoring has been that of a single, isolated function, does that over-simplistic formula works for you? Probably not, no matter how much we — that includes me — agree with the fundamental logic of that proposition.

Your top bosses now have different priorities, even if they still agree with you. They have to fight the recession. Depending on the business you are in and the size of your firm — offshoring may not be the top three/four things that will immediately provide an answer to their worries.

But here is something that will. And it is for real.

I assume that if you have an offshoring strategy — as opposed to isolated, tactical offshoring — India is part of that. Now, can you turn that around and come with a completely new proposition? Instead of India as part of a bigger outsourcing strategy, can you have offshoring as part of a bigger India strategy?
Here is what I mean. India’s domestic consumption growth is on a historical high. White goods, fast moving consumer goods, retail, telecom, travel, automobiles, personal finance — almost all consumer sectors are witnessing growths of anywhere between 10  to 100 percent. Those of you who have had not yet captured a share of that growth, even while leveraging India’s professional, low-cost knowledge workforce by offshoring IT/BPO, here is a chance to look at combining both and have an integrated India strategy in which offshoring is a part.

Of course, my observation does not mean anything for Citigroup or IBM; Procter & Gamble or Coca Cola — the companies, which have a booming business in India already. But I am sure many of you are not out there yet.

Can you turn the challenges thrown by slowdown to an opportunity by stepping up the India activity? Absolutely. So far, India has contributed to your bottom line by bringing down your cost. Now, it can do the same by contributing to your top line.

And that is true for both the users of offshoring and service providers. India’s domestic IT services market is beginning to grow as well, though nowhere near the growth witnessed by the consumer markets.
Am I beginning to sound like those gurus of outsourcing? Where you do agree with my fundamental logic but are beginning to doubt how practical it is to look at a new expansion plan in the face of a slowdown? That is a very, very sincere question.

And here are my answers: At two levels.

First, at the more fundamental level, there is little choice before you. A slowdown is probably the best time to try this out because the reward to risk ratio will look more attractive during such a time.
But at a more tactical level, I assume you have done some groundwork for India offshoring. You already have or are planning to have a dedicated team working on that plan, visiting India, and talking to people there. My only point is: Why not broaden the scope of its brief? In a very narrow way, it is leveraging the resources better. So you have little to lose. In just a small incremental cost, the same team can work on an integrated India plan that will give you both growth and profit. ‘Profitable business,’ as management writer Ram Charan tells us, is “everyone’s business.”