US ready to hear out India’s concerns on outsourcing

NEW DELHI: The US will listen to concerns of India on outsourcing, but companies are happy with the current business environment in both the countries, the US White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra said at a CII seminar on Indo-US Innovation Exchange Forum here. “We will surely listen, if there are any concerns. But my sense is that companies in both the countries are happy (with the current environment). Leaving aside what is there in the media, there is a strong relationship between both the countries. And we want to grow it further,” Mr Chopra said. He is leading a US delegation for possible collaboration in areas of clean technology, e-governance, healthcare and education with India.

Mr Chopra was referring to the ban on offshoring, levied by the Ohio government last month, from public departments. The ban may mean a loss of potential business for Indian IT services players looking to bag e-governance contracts from the US. But, Mr Chopra allayed the protectionism fears and said: “We have a strong and vibrant relationship between the two countries and it is growing. We are looking at creating an ecosystem where companies in both the countries can thrive together,” he said.

Besides Mr Chopra, secretary at Department of Science and Technology T Ramasami and advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations Sam Pitroda were also present at the event. The Indo-US joint working groups on e-governance and clean technology also suggested some innovative models on ad-funded e-governance content, clean technology and solar-powered lights. On the issue of Ohio ban, Mr Pitroda said that there are broader IT challenges before India to be tackled.

“Companies which lose an order should be concerned, but there are broader IT challenges before India to be tackled. And we should improve them first,” he said. Mr Pitroda is advising the government on the creation of a public information infrastructure (PII). The PII aims to make available all data in the public domain to 1.2 billion citizens. Sam Pitroda plans to create a public information infrastructure in India, through kiosks in cities, and 2,50,000 Bharat Nirman e-Centres in 6,00,000 villages, at Rs 15,000 crore. “We plan to put out a Cabinet note soon on it. PII will democratise the availability of information,” he added.