BPO, LPO, KPO and Bollywood

In Mumbai, I visited processing centers affiliated with the US investment banking industry. These firms are insistent that they are not in the BPO industry but are engaged in "knowledge processing," which has been captioned "KPO." The concern is that the high level work being done in subjects such as financial analysis may be mistakenly confused with call center work. I learned that investment and financial analysis, modeling, and similar financial tasks are ripe for outsourcing and that the India-based firms doing this type of work are hiring mostly MBAs and even PhDs. Some Indian-born professionals are "coming home" to India to pursue opportunities here that may be greater than those abroad, with recruits from the US and Canada asking to extend their temporary tours in India. The newspapers report that the top graduates of the top business school in India were offered 2.38 jobs each in 2006, with salaries as high as US $85,000, but anecdotally the word is that top salaries being offered by the financial services industry range up to $250,000. This may account for increasing talk of outsourcing to countries like China, as India's cost advantage slims down. I was given evidence indicating that the BPO industry today accounts for as much as 5-7% of India's GDP. On the other hand, these KPO jobs are extremely difficult to get -- for the second time, I was given an estimate that the number of university graduates who are "employable" by the BPO/KPO firms is in the single digits (i.e., less than 10% of the total number of graduates). Yesterday's paper reported a country-wide household income level of less than $1,500 US, which makes it obvious how rare and desirable the BPO, LPO and KPO jobs must be. (However, with so much of India's population earning livelihoods in rural areas, a country-wide average income figure is not very descriptive.)

In the investment banking-related firms, the security measures described in previous posts were supplemented by a personal escort to the ladies room, with my host standing by constantly so I would not be out of sight. At the entrance to one company's parking area, I counted 12 security guards at a single check-in station.

On a more amusing note, I took a detour to Jaipur yesterday on my way to a final round of meetings in Delhi. Jaipur is an ancient city that was ruled by the Mughals and by a king known as the Maharaja of Jaipur until India's independence. Independence aside, my guide and people in the hotel here continue to refer to the deceased maharaja as the king, and his grandson (now 10 years old) apparently will be known as king eventually as well. The maharaja's palace in town (the City Palace) was the setting for a wedding party yesterday, so the royalty of India have joined other international royalty in earning gate fees for museum entrance and premises rental. Gate fees at the palaces include a separate charge for cameras (and the charge for a video camera is higher than the charge for a still camera -- these folks know how to protect their IP! At the end of the day, eating dinner in a posh restaurant in the Taj Rambahl Palace Hotel, a waiter pointed out an elderly woman with an escort of 5 people, as the widow of the last maharaja.

In the Amber Palace on a hill atop Jaipur, the history lesson provided by my guide was somewhat lost on me because a Bollywood movie was being filmed and the singers and dancers were so colorful and lively that my attention was diverted from the old palace and tales of long-dead kings and queens. I've always loved these movies, with their sometimes corny story lines, bright costumes, and highly choreographed dance routines. I caught some photos of the dancing group which will be added to this post, and later met the producer (I didn't have a pen handy but I believe his name is Khan) and a bystander to the photo informed me later that the producer is also a well-known Bollywood actor. He might have been disappointed I didn't recognize him, but a reader of this blog might -- if so, please identify him in a comment...

In earlier posts, I've reported on the array of vehicles on the roadway in Indian cities. To this, after visiting Jaipur, I add elephants and camels, as well as hand-drawn rickshaws. The mind boggles at seeing an elephant with a brightly painted face lumbering along in the middle lane of 3 lanes of heavy traffic. Neither the animal nor the motorists seem bothered by the mix.