Infosys Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has cautioned that any protectionism that prevents free flow of capital, human talent and technological expertise, would 'set the clock back by decades' in terms of growth in productivity and economic progress for all countries.
"Offshore outsourcing is one of the outcomes of globalisation. Globalisation leverages each nation's competitive advantage to produce goods and services more efficiently. This works to the advantage of consumers around the world," Murthy said.
Murthy, who is the chief mentor of the NASDAQ-listed Infosys which broke the $1 billion barrier in revenues in the fiscal 2004 becoming the third Indian IT company to do so, was asked about the outcry against outsourcing in the United States which was somewhat subdued in recent days and the threat of it staging a comeback after the US presidential elections.
Apart from North Korea's nuclear threat and the Iraq war, the transfer of American jobs to cheaper locations such as India and China has emerged as a key debating point among the Asia-related issues in the US presidential election.
Indian IT industry feels that the noise over outsourcing might recede into the background after the US elections but fear that it get louder close to the polls.