The outcome of the US elections may not prove to be a blessing for the Indian information technology and business process outsourcing sector.
While the general opinion is that George Bush's victory will have a positive impact on the booming sector, a section of the industry still believes that the backlash against outsourcing will continue.
"We believe that the outcome of the US elections will not have any impact on business. The US is a strong proponent of free trade," said Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan Nilekani.
He, however, added, "Corporate America is not swayed by political outcomes. Offshoring is a mega trend that will continue."
Raj Kondur, chairman and chief executive officer of Bangalore-based BPO Nirvana Business Solutions, has the same view.
"Bush's win may raise the busines confidence among Indian information technology services companies. But, it is business logic that will drive the growth in the sector," said Kondur, who was also the co-founder of India's largest venture capital fund Chrys Capital.
Experts in the sector were of the opinion that even if Kerry had been elected, he would have found it difficult to implement his promises to curb outsourcing by changing laws. This is because it is a win-win arrangement for both the firm that ships jobs as well as the company that processes it at a far away location.
Some are of the view that during Bush's regime, the US companies outsourcing to India will not be worried to reveal the fact.
"We expect that the American firms will be bolder in terms of not hiding the fact that they are benefiting from outsourcing to Indian IT offshore providers," said Sudip Banerjee, president (Enterprise Solutions), Wipro Technologies.
An analyst in a leading reasearch firm in Mumbai said though the fear of elimination of tax breaks to companies that send their jobs overseas might not come in the way of outsourcing, other issues like data security might be projected as a hindrance to the flow of free trade between the two nations.
National Association of Software and Services Companies President Kiran Karnik is concerned about the $ 0.5 billion, Indian infotech workers in the US pay every year as social security obligations. "There should be some mechanism that could ensure refund of this amount when they leave the US," said Karnik.