As titles go, not all are born with them. Some mere mortals acquire them along the way. For instance, president & CEO, GE Capital International Services, Pramod Bhasin and the former president of Wipro [Get Quote] Spectramind are called the 'Godfathers of Indian outsourcing'. They are committed to taking India to the world and showcasing the breadth of knowledge and business led services that could be done out of India.

India is looking for an image overhaul. It's no longer about being a low cost provider of hi-tech labour but about moving to being the destination of choice, for higher-end services.

It's already happening to a large extent with Infosys [Get Quote] also doing its bit. But, both Bhasin and Roy, will also have key parts to play. Even their first meeting was about a big decision that needed to be made back then - over who would kick off outsourcing in India.

The Eureka moment!

Pramod Bhasin recalls, "I think it was a peculiar meeting, because we were meeting to figure out how to start outsourcing and I had asked my HR man to tell me who is the best person to do this. He said Raman Roy. So we had lunch with him and we sat together and he asked me, what's the job description. I still remember handing him a blank piece of paper and said this is it!"

Raman Roy agrees, "It started by being blank and then Pramod took out his pen and scribbled a few things. Two years ago, I went to him and said listen, we have changed, this is what you said. He said crap, that's not the piece of paper!

Bhasin says that Roy told him that call centres from India was the way ahead and he (Bhasin) had been sceptical. But Roy got to work right away. He got the licence and soon the first calls were being made out of a corporate park. Just goes to show, that keeping a little faith always helps! 

Roy elaborates, "We took inspiration from a barber's shop. He had curtains hanging there because I had a small room and I had to maintain confidentiality and I had no money because this Pramod wouldn't give me any. So, we put up curtains made out of thick material. That's how we created an industry - things can be made to happen."

The challenges...

It was akin to being a Eureka moment for India because here was the birth of a new industry that would give jobs to millions and create an all-round economic boom. Bhasin puts it succinctly, "You realise in a flash one day, when you are standing and looking at everything and you are saying, 'My God, its gone from what you can do in India to what can't you do in India'. Suddenly you have something fantastic."

But as Milton said in 'Paradise Lost', that "the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions." Were there hellish moments, when they felt they should just give up? Roy reminisces, "There were plenty. It's easy to talk about the moments where you felt good and you had success. One statement that I made, when we sold Spectramind was that, it takes 30 years of hard work to become an overnight success."

"But without that hard work, without that effort, have there been moments where you are ready to burst into tears? Yes, lots of them. You feel lousy, you feel bad - at times you go into a kind of silent mode depression."

Now of course, all that heartache is behind them. Once they began the business of call centres in India, the perceptions needed to be worked on because this was a new industry with the average age of employees being 22-23 years, straight-out-of-college crowd. The money was looking good too but parents needed to be told what a call centre did, and if just answering the phone qualified as a job!

Changing attitudes

Roy agrees, "There is a lack of understanding because a lot of the things that happen are wrongly reported, that's what irks you and you want put it in perspective. The average age of the employee is 22-23 years. Typically, it's their first or second job and they are influenced by their parents.

"This industry did not exist when their parents were looking for a job. So the only exposure parents have is to newspapers, and unfortunately, our media tends to write more negative than positive things."

Initially, even he had to make an effort to bridge the generation gap, like letting the younger crowd design the cafetaria in cool shades of blue and yellow, which he at first thought was 'loony.' But he did give in and eventually let his hair down at many parties with the younger crowd and enjoyed himself.

Bhasin says, "I think there is a generation gap difference and there is no point attempting to bridge it. But most of all, I think it adds energy and fun. I remember when Jack Welch first visited us, his one comment when he walked around our offices, which I thought was so insightful was - here you have energy, you have passion and the same job is being done in many other parts of the world, where they have no energy in doing the job. That's the difference and he picked up on it, and that's why the BPO business will be so successful as an industry, in India.

A vision

They are so sure of the success of this nascent industry, that Bhasin already has visions of billion dollars dancing in front of his eyes. Roy says, 'I think the elements of  operational challenge is linked to publicity, quality, training, people and attrition. Then there are also challenges of different market segments to be addressed, different verticals to be addressed, different domain knowledge capabilities to be built.'

'At the moment, on a global platform, if you take pure outsourcing, ie. work done by other companies without same ownership, India has a market share of 1.5%.' Bhasin adds, 'We can be the best in the world in the services that we provide.'

Dreaming big has never been a crime but it's equally important to have a gameplan in mind. So do they have a strategy in place? Bhasin explains, 'I think the broad base of work in finance and accounting, voice, collection etc, is going to get dominated by either local companies, which are of sufficient size and scale or international companies, which are setting up here and have the ability to compete globally.'

'Guys like IBM and Accenture are in town and they are formidable. We can only capture the market for so long. On the other side are new niche areas and new product areas, which will be led by entrepreneurs like Raman, and perhaps be funded by venture capitalists.  They will be the ones, who will find those new things which are not being served out of India today at all, or if they are, they are being done in a very small way.' 

Roy adds, 'In addition to consolidation, those who don't consolidate will see a fallout.  It will be a combination of a lot of things but we have got to let a thousand flowers bloom. We have got to find a way to nurture and create those thousand flowers, otherwise as a country, what are we going to leave for our children? What are we going to leave for the next generation. I think it's very critical, that we create an environment, where India gets it's rightful place.' 

Both feel they have given their life's best to the BPO industry, Apart from the 12 hour workdays and 30 years of hard work, they have created a new job mill - an industry that's creating jobs for many, giving rise to an entire new layer of middle class consumers, which has set the Indian economy rolling, like never before.     

Bhasin reiterates, "I think we are already among the luckiest people in the world. Jointly, we have had an opportunity to create a new industry. How many people can do it? Jointly, we have been able to go forward and do something remarkable, which I think will be one of the largest employers in the country, for the next 10-15 years.

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