macroeconomics

>> To many American employers, India is--  

[ Music ]  

>> Nirvana.  

[ Chanting ]  

>> A stable democracy,  

an enormous English speaking population--  

>> And then you plug this back in--  

>> A solid education system that each year churns out more  

than a million college graduates.  

>> So what do you have?  

>> All happy to work for a fraction of the salary  

of their American counterparts.  

[ Car Honking ]  

>> A country that often looks on the edge of collapse,  

a background of grinding poverty,  

visually a mess and yet--  

>> Okay, I just want you to click on that.  

>> Whether you know it or not when you call Delta Airlines,  

American Express, Sprint, Citibank,  

IBM or Hewlett Packard's technical support number--  

>> Since when are you having this problem?  

>> Chances are you'll be talking to an Indian.  

>> You're doing customer servicing there--  

>> Raman Roy is the chairman of Wipro Spectramind,  

a leading outsourcing company.  

He helped start the Indian call center boom in the mid '90s  

where they came up with a business plan  

for American companies to direct their calls to India.  

>> That you don't have  

to pay any annual membership fee for the software.  

>> When you decided that India could be the place how skeptical  

was industry, I mean North American industry?  

>> Skepticism, it was mammoth.  

>> You understand why the skepticism,  

because the stereotypical view of India is poverty,  

chaotic traffic, systems that don't work.  

>> Right, right.  

>> Even as we speak the local power grid is down  

and you're running, all your phones are working,  

lights are on.  

>> Yeah, and only you've got to understand  

in America you lift a phone, you dial a phone number  

and you put it to your ear 'cause you know it's going  

to ring on the other side.  

In India, you lift a phone, listen for the dial tone,  

say ah, it's working and then you start dialing.  

>> So they had to build their own generators  

and their own satellite phone system.  

The call centers are cool, self-sufficient islands  

in an uncertain sea of chaotic Indian street life.  

Inside, round the clock--  

>> San Francisco, it's 8.  

>> They keep America on the line.  

>> We service the globe.  

We service all parts of the world irrespective  

of what time it is here or there.  

>> New Delhi is 10 and a half hours ahead of New York  

so manning the phones is largely night work.  

By day, the agents as they're called are dutiful Indian sons  

and daughters.  

By night, they are--  

>> My name is Shaun.  

>> My name is Nancy.  

>> My name is Ricardo.  

>> My name is Celine.  

>> Again to start it I need to ask you a few questions.  

>> Give me your real name and your--  

the name you use on the phone.  

>> The real name is Toshar [phonetic]  

and the name I use is Terrence.  

>> Terrence?  

>> That's right.  

>> My name is Sandeep [phonetic] and pseudo name is Jack.  

>> My name is Shreva [phonetic] and the name  

which I use is Olivia.  

>> Olivia?  

>> Um-hmm.  

>> My real name is Sangita [phonetic]  

and my pseudo name is Julia.  

>> Julia?  

[ Laughter ]  

>> Julia Roberts happen to be my favorite actress  

so I just picked up Julia.  

>> Can you read that?  

Someone read that out to me.  

>> Stop yanking my train.  

>> Stop yanking my train.  

>> What does it mean?  

>> Lavadia Prabu [phonetic] is a call center trainer  

who guides young Indians through the labyrinth  

of American English.  

>> When you're instructing them can you do these accents  

your self?  

>> I can do some of them, yes.  

>> Give me some examples.  

>> Well you have Brooklyn, you walk the walk  

and you talk the talk.  

And you have the southern they're saying, oh hello there,  

what can I do for you today?  

>> But she spends most of her time trying  

to de-Indianize her countrymen.  

>> There's a very free and easy interchange among a lot  

of Indians of V and W.  

>> Yes, you have my name is Wictor with a W.  

>> Give me an example  

of an exercise you would give them on the V W problem.  

>> Um-hmm.  

[ Sound Making ]  

>> G.  

>> G.  

>> G-G-G.  

>> M-M-M.  

>> M-M-M.  

>> Very good.  

Now all together.  

>> G-G-G-K-K-K-M-M-M.  

>> Wonderful!  

>> All this apparent goofiness aside these jobs are tough  

to get.  

>> Of the young people who apply, how many are accepted?  

>> Out of a hundred applications we accept approximately 5.  

[ Inaudible Remark ]  

>> On any given day in New Delhi and Bombay  

and Bangalore the call goes out for new call center recruits  

as more and more American companies come calling.  

>> Just type in the key word.  

>> The call center employees earn 3 to 5,000 dollars a year,  

in a nation where the per capita income is less than 500.  

>> Oh, just give me a moment to [inaudible].  

>> There are a few aspects that we are telephonic  

like that do not sooner or later end up in India.  

>> And many of the reasons for delaying  

and making the payment this time--  

>> Debt collection is as it has always been a grove industry.  

>> Would the next month's payment be on time?  

>> [Inaudible] a Shakespearean actor helps debt collectors  

and others try to weed money out of you play the part.  

>> Please reconsider paying the increased fee.  

>> Please reconsider paying the increased fee.  

>> Great!  

>> There's also a hierarchy of bill collectors.  

There's the sweet gentle one who's first calling in  

and saying just reminding you, right?  

[ Laughter ]  

>> And then the toughies come in, you see?  

And the toughies have it quite good because the--  

for example, a lot of men have no problem being aggressive,  

right?  

Accent doesn't matter.  

You know once I'm being aggressive with you,  

I don't have to be polite and neat.  

I can be tough with you, right?  

>> The action at a certain degree of sinister.  

>> [Inaudible] Yes, yes.  

Morally you better, you know.  

Don't mind but if you don't pay me up now,  

I'm gonna take your truck from you.  

>> Partha Iyengar is an analyst in India for Gartner,  

an American research company.  

>> This is probably the most palpable example I guess  

of globalization.  

>> Absolutely.  

Well, we've had globalization in the manufacturing  

with the sector with the auto industry  

and Japan really emerging as a major auto power.  

We've had globalization in the low-end manufacturing industry  

with China emerging as a global power, but it's the first time  

in the knowledge industry,  

we have globalization impacting two countries  

at such a large scale, India and the US.  

>> And may I have your first and last name, please?  

>> The US government does not keep track  

of how many American jobs have gone overseas  

but there are estimates that in just the last 3 years as many  

as 400,000 jobs have gone to places  

like China, Russia and India.  

>> Have a nice day, bye-bye.  

>> The reason the companies are coming here is  

to really be more competitive  

and that cannot be bad for the US economy.  

>> What has been the effect of outsourcing  

on the Indian economy?  

>> It's been quite dramatic.  

There are some estimates that say  

that the whole outsourcing revolution, if we can call it  

that will really be one of the key factors  

in moving India towards developed economy status.  

[ Background Music ]  

>> At which time, India would probably outsource to China  

for the same four reasons that US outsources to India.  

>> Money, money, money, money.  

>> Money, money, money, money.  

>> The most important line  

in business is the bottom line, correct?  

>> Absolutely.  

>> And what would be the savings to a multinational [inaudible]?  

>> You save anywhere between 30 to 50 percent.  

>> Enough to dazzle even the most patriotic CEO.  

And so JPMorgan Chase is hiring Indian stock analysts.  

Indians answer some of amazon.com's email.  

If your doctor prescribes an MRI  

at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,  

it may be processed by a radiologist in India.  

So what's left?  

Well, there're taxes.  

Last year, only a thousand US tax returns were prepared  

in India.  

This year, there were 25,000.  

>> And next year, people are estimating  

that about 200,000 returns will be prepared in India.  

>> That's phenomenal.  

>> It is phenomenal.  

>> Dave Wyle is a 31-year-old American entrepreneur expecting  

to make a fortune on outsourcing for US accounting firms  

through his company SurePrep based in Bombay.  

What makes India such a good candidate  

for outsourcing, Texas specifically?  

>> The cost of the labor because it's a fraction of the cost.  

>> What's the difference between a set of charter account  

with you and a charter account with--  

in the Midwest, in salary?  

>> Oh you might be paying somebody 3-400 dollars a month  

here that might make 3-4,000 dollars a month  

or more in the United States.  

>> SurePrep currently does work for more  

than 150 US accounting firms  

and its client list grows larger each month.  

>> And these accounting firms range from small local firms  

to right now it's about 20 of the top 100 firms including one  

of the national firms.  

>> Those American firms scan an individual's tax documents  

into a computer.  

An Indian accountant logs on, fills out the return  

on his computer and then it's printed out in the US, checked,  

signed and sent to the IRS.  

It's so new that I would guess people don't know  

that their tax is--  

>> Most people would never know.  

>> You know one of the things  

about tax returns is people regard it  

as among the most private things they have.  

>> True.  

>> Is there any risk of that security being broken,  

the tax returns flying through the ozone?  

>> The type of security you see  

in this facility is generally much more so than you would see  

in any US accounting firm.  

Everything is paperless.  

You'll notice in the facility there are no pens  

or papers on the desk.  

There are no printers on the workroom.  

Everything is done on screen.  

>> I get the sense that young successful businessmen  

like yourself don't really view the world as a place  

with boundaries anymore.  

>> This is a global economy.  

Geography is history.  

Distances don't matter anymore.  

>> Geography is history.  

>> History.  

>> Beyond the success and the money that's been made  

in this business and everything else there is a terrific sense  

of national pride that India is making its mark  

in this very sophisticated way.  

>> You are right.  

There is a huge amount of nationalistic pride  

because we want to show that as workforce,  

as a labor pool we are equivalent if not better.  

>> Than anyone else?  

>> Than anybody else, anyone in the word.