The Indian outsourcing industry can heave a sigh of relief as offshoring and job losses will not be on the political agenda for US elections this year, unlike in the past, as it goes to polls in November.
Americans are no longer against offshoring as they believe it is good for the country's economy and helps in increasing job opportunities in the country.
Elections for the US House of Representatives for all the 435 seats, Senate election for 2006, many state and local elections and the voting for 36 state governors are all slated to be held in November this year.
"The major debates in the US are around illegal immigration from Mexico, which is a raging issue. Offshoring will never be an issue again, at least in US, as it is now looked up as an opportunity rather than a disadvantage," said John Honarrd, a political analyst in US.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties are expected to make use of illegal immigrant issues in the forthcoming elections. Run-up to the elections was yet to begin, while names of candidates were expected to be finalised in the next couple of months.
According to Nasscom vice president Sunil Mehta, offshoring will no longer be any issue in the US or UK. "Various studies have proved that outsourcing is win-win situation and is more beneficial to US than India, with the country getting $1.44 for every $1 outsourced," he said.
He, however, declined to comment whether offshoring would an issue in the November elections.
Mirroring the opinion, Intelenet Global Services, a leading BPO company, CEO Susir Kumar said "there would be no backlashes again as corporates are no longer influenced by the propaganda of job losses and strain on economy. Offshoring has created more employment opportunities in the US IT industry and it is not looked down anymore."
Software major Aftek Infosys' chairman and CEO Ranjit Dhuru said US is a free economy and is not influenced by constraints, embargoes or backlashes. "Backlash against offshoring had cropped up during the previous presidential election, but died soon after as it was proved to be more beneficial to US, rather than to the outsourced country."