India, hailed as the outsourcing destination of the world, is all set to prove its mettle in the emerging vertical of offshoring -- product engineering services outsourcing.

Still in its infancy, PES has caught the fancy of Indian information technology majors such as Patni Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro Ltd, among others. The sector is poised to rake in revenues of over $11 billion in the next three years.

PES is defined as services, which are linked with the creation of a new product, and it helps in maximising output and lifespan of a product.

According to Nasscom estimates, PES outsourcing, which includes embedded software and offshore product development, is expected to be an around $8-11 billion business by 2008.

PES outsourcing was earlier clubbed with IT services as research and development or with IT-enabled services-business process outsourcing as engineering BPO.

However, increasing consumer demand for electronic products, shorter time-to-market cycles and competitive pressures propelled PES, to emerge a standalone segment. So much so that the segment posted $2.3 billion last year.

The importance of PES can be gauged from the fact that to meet the requirements of this business, Wipro puts over 10,000 employees on its payroll, while PCS boasts of a workforce of 1,600 dedicated engineers.

Ajay Chamania, vice-president and head-embedded technology solutions, PCS, said, "In addition to consumer electronics, which is traditionally known to be a high adopter of embedded technologies, there are significant opportunities in verticals like automotive, medical electronics and computing that are driving the growth of PES outsourcing."

The semiconductor chip market, in which software design is playing an increasingly crucial role, is also a sector where PES is set to play an active part, he said.

Ravi Gopinath, vice-president and head-engineering and industrial services, TCS, said due to a rise in the digitisation levels in enterprises, the domain of engineering has become tightly linked to the territory of business information management.

Common enterprise management applications and technology platforms have driven information integration to include engineering of products and production facilities, and efficient management of capital assets and production.

Wipro lays a major thrust on its innovation programme that helps build intellectual property block and solutions for the above segments. According to a company spokesperson, Wipro owns intellectual properties in many applications and solutions areas, and is rather serious in its approach to PES outsourcing.

The country's advantage lies in its ability to deliver technology services to global customers at great value and speed. India also has a vast pool of engineering and scientific talents, which can be tapped for the growth of the sector.

"The Indian economy is very different as private consumption is driving its growth."

This has to be music to the ears of India's economic administrators. India's economy is more balanced than China's and the country can sustain over 7 per cent growth for a long period of time, according to Stephen S Roach, managing director and chief economist of Morgan Stanley, and one of Wall Street's most influential economists.

In an exclusive interview with Business Standard, Roach said, "The Asian growth model is essentially flawed as it depends on exports and fixed investments. The Indian economy is very different as private consumption is driving its growth. Domestic private consumption accounts for 65 per cent of India's GDP, while it is only 42 per cent in China. It is an amazing story."

This is Roach's third trip to India over the last 18 months and he wants to come to India more often. After all, he has been to China 35 times over the last eight years.

On a four-day visit to India -- split between Mumbai and Delhi -- Roche met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Adviser to Finance Minister Parthasarathi Shome, Housing Development Finance Corporation chairman Deepak Parekh, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and the chiefs of quite a few Indian corporations and MNCs, including HLL, GE Caps, HSBC, Standard Chartered and McDonalds.

"Nine months ago, on my second trip to India, I was a bit disappointed and felt that the government was going slow on reforms. But this time, I am feeling more encouraged than I have ever been on the India growth story. There are very strong positive signs," said Roche.

According to him, India's "horrible" infrastructure is "getting better".

Similarly, foreign direct investment, too, has a long way to go. But all these not-so-positive factors have been more than balanced by the growth in private consumption.

"You have a long way to go....I also know that you are growing on a lower base. But the growth will be sustainable because it is balanced and led by internal factors. It is not dependent on exports,' he pointed out.

On the prospects of outsourcing and information technology-enabled services, Roche admitted that during his first visit to India, he had a bit of 'exaggerated' sense of the sector's role in the economy.

"It is a very small part of the economy. India needs to combine IT with its manufacturing strength. The IT-enabled services are not getting the kind of attention from the government which it should get," he said.

Roche described the stock market volatility as a 'healthy correction'. "The yield play by global investors in a market flush with liquidity will no longer be there. With interest rates going up, the days of carry trade are also over. The market will turn volatile and risky but fundamentally good stocks will continue to appreciate as the India story is now on a more stronger footing," he said.

Sivakasi
Cast: Vijay, Asin, Geetha
Director: Perarasu.

Only a few days to go for Diwali and Eid, and firework stores have sprung up around Chennai. Posters advertising the fireworks have also sprung up, all featuring actors on them. Which is not surprising. After all, the small town Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu is synonymous with fireworks. It is from here that they are sent across India.

Sivakasi is also the title of the biggest Diwali/ Eid release this year.

Makes sense, then, that the film's hero Vijay adorns all cracker wrappers and posters in Tamil Nadu.
Vijay hopes to score a hat trick. The Vijay-Perarasu (director) combination created fireworks before, with Thirupatchi. If that film had the brother-sister sentiment, Sivakasi tries to work on the mother-son angle.




Majaa
Cast: Vikram, Asin, Manivannan, Pasupathy
Director: Shafi

Vikram's last film Anniyan was one of the biggest hits of 2005. Majaa, his next, is a remake of the blockbuster Malayalam hit Thommanum Makkalum with Rajan P Dev playing Thomman the thief and Mammootty and Lal (not to be confused with Mohanlal) taking on the roles of his sons.

It is a fun film, with lots of action. Apparently, Vikram fell in love with the film the minute he saw it, and wanted to remake it in Tamil. Hence, Majaa. The director of the original, Shafi, has directed the remake as well.

Thommanum Makalum's posters showed the father and his sons. The Tamil version, however, has only the pictures of the hero and heroine -- Vikram and Asin. Yes, there is a father, played by Manivannan, and two sons -- Vikram and Pasupathy.




Tavamai Tavamirundu
Cast: Cheran, Padmapriya
Director: Cheran

Cheran has just returned from collecting the National Award for his last film Autograph, which was loved by the masses and critics alike.

While expectations for his next film ride high, TT will be released only if it gets out of the legal mess it is currently mired in.



Kasturiman
Cast: Meera Jasmine, Prasanna
Director: Lohitadas

Like Majaa, Kasturiman is a remake of a Malayalam film. Unlike the other Diwali releases, the protagonist is a young college girl who works hard to help her lover realise his dream of becoming an IAS officer.

Meera Jasmine, in the lead role, gave a sterling performance in the Malayalam original. She plays the lead in the Tamil version too, with Prasanna donning the role of Kunchacko Boban in the original.

This is award-winning director Lohitadas' first outing in Tamil.


Athu Oru Kana Kaalam
Cast: Dhanush, Priya Mani
Director: Balu Mahendra

Though there are only a few days leading to the festive releases, it hasn't been confirmed if Balu Mahendra's Athu Oru Kana Kaalam will be released next week.

Mahendra signed Dhanush years ago after the success of Kadhal Kondein.

Unfortunately, Dhanush couldn't maintain the promise he showed in his first three films. Now, when this love story is ready to hit the screen, Dhanush is at the nadir of his career, making the film more important to him than anybody else.
The film made headlines earlier when police asked filmmakers to remove hoardings depicting Dhanush and heroine Priya Mani in a tight embrace.

Traditionally, the year's biggest Bollywood releases are timed around Diwali. And this year, like 2004 (which saw Mughal-E-Azam, Veer-Zaara, Aitraaz, and Naach), the festival of lights coincides with Eid, the day the holy month of Ramadan ends.
Here's what Bollywood has in store for you in this festive season:

Beefcakes And Bimbettes

Garam Masala, directed by Priyadarshan, is a film with a perfect cast. Leading men John Abraham and Akshay Kumar have never been hotter, and pairing them in this buddy film is a stroke of extremely fortunate timing.

The men play a couple of irrepressible, competing flirts in the film that also stars a trio of brand new babes. With that and the director's lucky charm Paresh Rawal, this looks like timepass at its spiciest.







Why, haven't we seen this before?
More Priyadarshan, and on the same day!

With his other release Kyon Ki too, the director seems confident. The plot is an emotional one, which brings us Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor together for the very first time. The director says the film will have doses of both drama and comedy, but will (mercifully) not be like Hulchul.

Kyon Ki is purportedly a remake of the 1975 Hollywood classic, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

Let's see if the Bebo-Sallu chemistry works.





Shehnaai shenanigans
Bring on the Dhawan.

After raking in the moolah with Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Bollywood's bawdiest director is back to what he manages best: a confused ensemble of actors, a couple of them A-list, with a ridiculous script.

David Dhawan's Shaadi No 1 promises to be yet another innuendo-driven escapade, starring Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Ayesha Takia, Esha Deol, Soha Ali Khan and Sharman Joshi.

Ria Sen, Sophie Chaudhary, and Arti Chhabria star as three bombshells. And Zayed Khan stars as - hold your breath - Spiderman?

Plot? What plot?




An intriguingly-titled tale
Priyadarshan is not the only one to have two Diwali releases this year.

Ayesha Takia also stars in Home Delivery, a Sujoy Ghosh film that completes the Diwali quartet, making sure the weekend will see audiences having to choose between comedies.

Vivek Oberoi plays hero in a film with the effervescent Boman Irani and Mahima Choudhary.

Details of the film's story are yet to be disclosed, but it's set to be a dark romance, with liberal doses of laughs. It's rumoured to have 21 zany songs (take a bow, Vishal-Shekhar), with one of them sung by Boman himself.

With this film set in a single day, the Jhankaar Beats director might just have the weekend ace up his sleeve.

Days after Ford Motor chairman and CEO Bill Ford promised fresh investments for India, the company said it will be pumping in $75 million (around Rs 330 crore) for expanding operations.
"To support the aggressive growth strategy, Ford India will be augmenting its subscribed capital. Ford India has received approval from Ford Motor company for an additional equity infusion of $75 million to meet the needs of our future plans," Arvind Mathew, Ford India MD and President said.

Ford India, which has its plant near Chennai, has invested around $375 million in India so far. The company began operations in 1996 in a joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra and became a fully-owned subsidiary in 2005.

Highlighting the importance of the Indian market, the US auto giant earlier this week had the first public showing of its new mid-size premium car 'Fiesta', scheduled for commercial launch later this year.

Ford, on his maiden visit to the country, had promised further investments in the market. "This market (India) is critical to our plans for building a Ford Motor company for the 21st century," Ford had said after unveiling the new car, which will be available in a 1.6-litre petrol engine and a 1.4-litre common rail diesel engine.

Ford India currently sells four models in India, including the flagship 'Ikon', SUV 'Endeavour', premium sedan 'Mondeo' and the recently launched 'Fusion'.

In one more example of the world's discovery of India as the place for cutting edge technology development, most of the designs for building Boeing's next generation aircraft are going to be created and tested by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.


IISc, India's premier scientific research institute, has joined hands with Boeing, the leading American manufacturer of satellites, commercial jetliners, and military aircraft, to build next generation aircraft.


Nearly 40 faculty members from various IISc departments -- like aerospace, metallurgy, centre for product design and manufacturing and civil engineering -- are involved in the Boeing project, which is being managed by the Society for Innovation and Development. SID is IISc's commercial arm, which was founded more than a decade ago.


SID undertakes research and development projects based on individual or joint proposals from IISc faculty and scientists, in collaboration with national and international organisations and business houses.


SID Chief Executive S Mohan said Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute earlier this year.


"IISc is the only Asian institution that Boeing has tied up with for research and transfer of technology," Mohan told rediff.com


Boeing's other global partners in research include Carnegie Mellon, Stanford Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and University of Cambridge.


The IISc-Boeing tie-up says the aerospace major would invest $50,00,000 in research every year for the next five years in the company's projects with the Institute.


"We have identified nine projects in which we will work with Boeing to build next generation aircraft," Mohan said.


To build these new planes, the IISc team has proposed the use of smart structures and the application of lightweight components like nano materials, alloys and their composites.


IISc's areas of focus include developing flaps for the aircraft that are fitted with smart sensors -- so that they can direct wind currents better -- and use of aluminium alloys in high temperature areas as well as in landing gear boxes.


The designs will be tested in a virtual environment being developed at the Institute.


"The Boeing project involves lots of innovative research. It is going to be interesting and very challenging," a researcher involved with the project said.


SID will enable innovations in science and technology by helping industries and business establishments compete and prosper in the face of global competition, turbulent market conditions and fast moving technologies, Mohan said.


The Boeing project is one of SID's many ongoing ones.


IISc launched SID with just one project in the year 1994, and a total financial outlay of Rs 2,25,000. Till date, SID has generated approximately Rs 600 million worth of research projects.


Some of SID's successful projects have been:


Development of a software tool for performance evaluation of ATM switches
Development of a 2.7 MW thermal gasifier system
Development of dynamic surface force apparatus
Development of high voltage power supplies for airborne application
High speed oxygen sputtering system
Initiation of umbrella R&D programmes with organisations like Nokia, General Motors, Honeywell

Top Diwali releases
Top Diwali releases


Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994)

This remake of the old Hindi film, Nadiya Ke Paar, is one of the biggest grossers in Bollywood history.

Producers Rajshri Production incurred heavy loses and had almost given up making films after Babul (1986). Then Sooraj Barjatya directed Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), starring Salman Khan and Bhagyashree. The film was a runaway hit.

The young Barjatya signed on Salman for his second film as well. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! was an even bigger hit. The film was later released in Tamil (Anbaalayam), Telugu (Premalayam) and English (Yours Forever).




Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge (1995)
Ten years after its release, DDLJ is still running in Mumbai's Maratha Mandir as a daily show.

Directed by Yash Chopra's son, Aditya, this debut film starred Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. The cast also included Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Karan Johar, Mandira Bedi and Parmeet Sethi.

The blockbuster came with its share of controversy. Though Adi was credited as the film's writer, Honey Irani (who had written for Yash Raj's earlier productions Lamhe, Aaina and Darr), claimed she had worked extensively on DDLJ's screenplay but had not been credited.

The Chopras kept mum, and Irani broke all ties with the banner.




Raja Hindustani (1996)
Many claimed the film was wrongly titled. They felt it should have been called Rani Hindustani in honour of Karisma Kapoor's brilliant new avatar.

The bushy eyebrows and raw look was replaced by a stunning new persona. Raja Hindustani gave Karisma's career a huge boost.

Aamir Khan, who was awarded a Filmfare Award for his performance, was by then disillusioned about the award ceremony. Apparently, he felt his performance in Rangeela, which released the previous year, should have won an award.

The award, however, went to SRK for DDLJ.

Since then, Aamir has not attended any award ceremony.




Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)
Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai pitted two spirited ladies -- Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit -- pit against each other.

Karisma was not, in fact, the first choice. Chopra had offered the role to Juhi Chawla and then Raveena Tandon, but they did not want to perform opposite the hugely talented Dixit.

Karisma held her own in the movie, and DTPH went on to become a big hit. She even bagged a National Award for the film.




Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
Karan Johar's debut film saw the DDLJ couple recreate their onscreen magic.

Rani Mukerji was the third angle in the tale, and went to become a regular feature in all of Karan's directorial ventures.

Again, Rani was not Karan's first choice. Her role was first offered to Raveena Tandon, Aishwarya Rai, Karisma Kapoor, Twinkle Khanna and Urmila Matondkar.

For those who love trivia: Nikhil Advani, the director of Kal Ho Naa Ho, appears for a few minutes in KKHH, as the love-struck youth who gets interviewed by Neelam (who plays a television host).




Hum Saath-Saath Hai (1999)
This Rajshri production had a huge star cast that included Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Monish Behl, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, Alok Nath, Reema Lagoo, Satish Shah and Himani Shivpuri.

Madhuri Dixit was initially offered Tabu's role, but refused; she felt it would not be appropriate for her to play Salman's bhabhi after playing his romantic interest in HAKH.

Salman, too, was not very happy with his role; he was more interested in playing the happy-go-lucky Vinod, a role that eventually went to Saif Ali Khan.

The 'modern' version of the Ramayana worked for the masses, and was declared a hit. Unfortunately, this has been their last success till date. Their next two releases, Uff Yeh Mohabbat Hai and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon bombed at the box office.




Mohabbatein (2000)
Five years after his first directorial venture, Aditya Chopra directed his second film, Mohabbatein. The idea of Mohabbatein had been with him for 10 years, even before he made DDLJ. At that time, he believed it was too mature a subject for him to handle.

Sridevi was initially approached to play Amitabh Bachchan's love interest, but she did not take up the offer. Eventually, when the film was made, no one was cast opposite Amitabh.

Mohabbatein released with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir.

Did you know: Amitabh and Shah Rukh were offered Sanjay Dutt's and Hrithik Roshan's roles in the film.

While both films were a hit, Mohabbatein stole a march over Mission Kashmir.





Asoka, Indian (2001)
Shah Rukh Khan's Asoka and Sunny Deol's Indian were rare Diwali flops; they bombed badly at the box office.

This phenomenon repeated itself the next year as well as Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Anarth, Waah Tera Kya Kehna and Leela failed to make an impact.




Pinjar (2003)
Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's directorial debut, Pinjar, was applauded for impressive direction, superb performances and brilliant sets.

In fact, it made people look at Urmila Matondkar with renewed interest.

Unfortunately, the film did not light up the box office. This was the third year that the Diwali release was a flop.




Veer-Zaara, Mughal-e-Azam, Aitraaz, Naach (2004)
Of the four releases last year, Naach bombed at the box office. The other Diwali biggies were winners.

Yash Chopra made a directorial comeback with Veer-Zaara after seven years, and it paid off.

Abbas-Mastan's Aitraaz established Priyanka Chopra in the big league of actresses and brought her such offers like Farhan Akhar's Don, Rituparno Ghosh's Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Rakesh Roshan's Krrish and Farah Khan's Happy New Year.

Mughal-e-Azam, which was re-released in colour, was the biggest hit of the four.

10 myths & facts about working in the Indian IT industry


India's booming information technology industry already hires more than a million employees and the numbers are set to grow manifold over the years.

Yet, the Indian IT sector, which has brought India on the global map (far removed from the West's perception of India being the land of diseases, poverty and snake charmers), is still grappling with the issue of high-end and low-end jobs and seeking out ways to go up the value chain.

Here are the 10 myths and facts about IT industry that you must know.

Myth #1: Company A has offered more salary than Company B, so it is better than Company B.

Fact: A bigger salary does not always mean better job-satisfaction. Big companies (with good cash flows) can afford to give more salaries than other relatively mid-sized or small companies or start-ups.

Also some companies outsource loss-making units or less revenue-generating product and maintenance work to India to cut costs, so job satisfaction for someone more interested in work content than the money is going to feel low.

For start-ups and small companies, salaries might not be very good, but they might offer stock options or bonus to compensate for this. Also work content in these companies might be better than big companies.

Some venture capitalists in the United States, when looking to fund start-ups, have begun to ask those companies whether they have an India-specific plan. Since these companies work on new/innovative products, work content is likely to be good.

Myth #2: Let me join Company A. If I don't like it, I will leave it and find a better job elsewhere.

Fact: Unless you are very clear about your goals and ambition you will keep changing jobs time and again. The best thing is to decide what you want to do quite early on in your career.

However, this seems a daunting task. This is true for someone with less than 3-4 years' experience and has no idea about the industry and what one wants to do. In addition, most of the companies hiring from campuses do not decide in advance what project the selected candidates will be working on. Later on, when works get assigned it does not match one's ambitions.

Also, most institutes/colleges put restriction on the number of job offers one can accept, so the selection of companies is not by choice. However, if you have joined a company that works on specific areas that are not to your liking then it is best to look out for another.

It is quite difficult for the company to find something that is specific to your interest, as it is beyond its scope. However, for you next job search, you should clearly indicate to your prospective employer that you are looking to work in a specific area (it is advisable to specialise in one domain/work area) and whether the company does that kind of work and you can be involved in that work.

Do not put off asking this after joining as it would be too late by then. It is best to give multiple interviews and decide on the one that best matches your aspirations. Don't let salary be the lone criterion when you make your decision.

Myth #3: Infotech work is more of 'a routine job.' No high-end work gets done in India.
Fact:This might be true in many cases, but the opportunities to work on challenging and complex projects is increasing in India. Currently, very few companies (rough estimate: 10-15%) in India are doing this. If you are the brainy type, seek out such companies. Using the best brain to do routine jobs can lead to job-dissatisfaction soon.

Also, most companies that launch their operations in India tend to give easy assignments in the beginning and you might feel that the job content is quite simple. But the important part is that is once you finish the project to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, the overseas management becomes confident in offshoring more complex work.

If the management is not convinced, then you will continue to do the daily chore. So, the bottomline is that if your team delivers quality product on time, you will get good work in the future.

Myth #4: Only product companies do exciting work.

Fact: The fact is that the typical work content in product companies involves a mix of routine and challenging tasks. In product companies, delivering a quality product is of great importance and as a result a typical product release involves multiple rigorous testing and bug-fixing phase.

This is a typically mundane and repetitive task and not always interesting. But it is important to understand that this is a critical task from company's perspective, as nobody would want to deliver a buggy product in the market and lose customer confidence.

So you cannot just focus on design and coding, and ignore testing and bug-fixing. Not only this, you should be flexible enough to work in any area whether you like it or not. You get both exciting and non-exciting work in the long run.

Myth #5: The Indian IT industry cannot offer the kind of job requirement I am looking for.

Fact: It requires a lot of effort to select the company of your liking. With so many companies setting up shop in India, this has made things even more difficult. Don't follow the principle 'my friend is working there, so I should follow him/her.' The requirement of your friend might be different from yours and you should seek companies that meet your requirement.

For experienced people, it is best to go through recruiters and indicate your exact requirement to them. If the recruiter is good, he will shortlist the companies that meet your expectations. If you find that the recruiter is not going by your interests, look for another recruiter.

Myth #6: I received a mail from a placement service saying that the job openings it has matches my profile.

Fact: Most of the recruiters/placement services send bulk mail to all and sundry. They do not scan resumes properly and just match keyword(s). Personally, I have received mails from recruiters, who say that my profile matches the job they have on offer, but if I look at the opening it does not match at all.

It is best to clear this with the recruiter before you agree to appear for an interview. This saves you the embarrassment of being on the ground that your profile/experience does not match the job profile.

Most companies rely heavily on recruiters for non-fresher openings and if they do not filter the candidate correctly, then most likely HR will not filter it either and call you for an interview!

Myth #7: Working abroad is better than working in Indian companies.

Fact: This might not be always true. If you are going to work as a consultant in the US, you might land up a worse job than what you were doing in India. With the IT doom of 2000 there is a very small pool of highly qualified professionals available in the US and they normally get better jobs than Indian consultants do.

Typically, in product companies, consultants are hired to do less critical work or work that can be done easily. If your expectation is to do high-end work, you will have to wait longer to do it. It is a much better option to obtain a master's degree from top-rated university in the US to bag better jobs.

Product companies usually hire the best brains from these universities to do the challenging work for them. Also the biggest advantage of working overseas is that you get to work with the best brains and learn a lot from them. It typically takes 4-5 years of overseas experience to get a good understanding of the overall execution of software products.

Myth #8: Management ladder is a much better option than technical ladder.

Fact: If you are the kind who loves to be technical, look for an organisation that encourages career growth for core technical work and pays salary at par with management salary for the same zone.

The demand for senior technical and senior architect professionals will grow as more high-end, specialised work gets done in India. Some companies have both managers and architects in the same project.

The manager takes care of the people and project execution, while the architect takes care of all technical aspect of the project. For complex and large projects, it is not possible for the manager to wear, both, the technical and the managerial hats, and hence the need to hire architects to take care of all technical aspects.

If you find the employer saying that you will be doing 20 per cent management and 80 per cent technical work, treat the statement with caution. Most likely it might turn out to be the other way around!

Myth #9: I am working abroad. If I relocate and work in India I won't get the same job satisfaction.

Fact: This is no longer true. The nature of the jobs done in India is as good as that in the US or other countries. The only difference is that the products that are futuristic in nature are not so prevalent in the Indian IT industry. In addition, career growth in India is much better -- and faster -- than overseas.

Myth #10: My satisfaction with the Indian IT industry is not in my hands.

Fact: As stated in the facts to the above myths, you yourself are solely responsible for job satisfaction. You have to research well when making a career plan and ensure you are at the right place.

Is there any relation between ancient Roman ships that once employed prison labour and Indian BPOs? Yes, says a study by the VV Giri National Institute of Labour.
The report by the labour institute has created a furore for bringing out the appalling working conditions in India's hi-tech business process outsourcing companies.

The study highlights that "the degree of surveillance required at work is even comparable with situations of nineteenth century prisons or Roman slave ships". It also points put that human resource managers "camouflage work as fun''.

Outsourcing and India

With several states exempting call centres from labour laws including the Industrial Dispute Act, there is a great concern over flouting of labour laws in these call centres.

Meanwhile, IT body Nasscom and call centres have denied these charges. Leading BPO companies say they were not even approached for any kind of feedback.

The institute's study says workers at BPO centres are monitored round-the-clock with specially designed software and closed circuit cameras.

Call centres? Never again!

"Even the time taken on attending each call is scrutinised and the employees are expected to take a certain number of calls on an hourly basis in some companies. In some companies, the person attending the call asks whether the client is satisfied with the response and asks for his feedback, which is again used to rate the employee's performance, according to a BPO employee.

Nasscom president, Kiran Karnik agrees that the institute is highly credible but what irked him was the reference to prison camps. Nasscom also points out that the Indian outsourcing firms have the highest employee satisfaction rates across any industry in India.

BPO companies have raised questions on the credibility of the report citing several examples of high growth prospects and huge opportunities for the youth of India.

"Its sad to hear about the bad working conditions of employees in some BPOs. Companies have to realise that the people working in BPOs are not made of nuts and bolts. They are human beings and should be treated well too," Daniel H. Pink, author of best sellers like 'Work Agent Change' and 'A Whole New mind'

How to choose the right BPO

According to the Labour institute report, though the BPOs project a good work environment, higher salaries and ample growth prospects, this is far from reality.

Young graduates are made to believe that they have the best offer on earth, but once they are hired, their performance is constantly monitored and several warnings are issued if targets are not meet. They are also asked to quit if they don't meet the company's high expectations.

The labour institute report draws parallels to popular model of work organisations followed in 1980's saying that the organisational structure of call centres is basically 'dualistic' with one set of permanent and non-permanent workers. While the top managers form the core group, the young graduates form easily replaceable group.

What is surpirisng is that the BPO employees also seem to be divided on this issue. While some feel that they were aware of the working conditions and they chose the profession as the best among the various options they had. Others agree with the labour institute's report that a rosy picture is drawn to attract them and once they are hired, it's a totally different world altogether.

"If such bad practises continue, talented people are bound to move out. So in the long run companies will be forced to make sure that employees are happy and they stay with the company, " says Daniel H. Pink .

Diwali will arrive just as winter settles over India.

With days to go for the most important festival in the Hindu calendar, over-enthusiastic kids are already lighting up rockets and other firecrackers that emit flickering, glowing colour.

The festival of lights is celebrated in the Hindu month of Ashwin. Diwali or Deepavali signifies a row of lights.

There are many legends associated with this festival. In north India Diwali is the day Lord Ram returned from exile to rule Ayodhya after slaying Ravana. Homes are lit up with lamps, in the manner that Ayodhya was lit up for Ram's return.

In South India Diwali is the day when Krishna rid the world of the evil Narkasura in a fierce battle that nearly brought darkness upon the earth.

Diwali is also the day Vishnu checkmates the unscrupulous King Bali who had taken his consort Lakshmi prisoner. Vishnu, in the avatar of Vaman, frees her. Lakshmi is remembered on Diwali because it was on this day she brings dhan (wealth) and prosperity for all.

Water, water...everywhere
Till two weeks ago, Chennaites were complaining about the heat and taps that yielded no water. When the rains started on Tuesday, many faces in Chennai had a smile.

But on Wednesday, everything had gone haywire in the city. With the downpour showing no signs of letting up after nearly 24 hours, North Chennai, the poorer part of the state capital and the relatively hipper suburbs of south Chennai have both been inundated.

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