From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Wed Jun 18 2003 - 07:35:20 MDT
I knew this would become a political football.
http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030617173938.u5xmzd61.html
Indian commerce minister attacks US states for anti-outsourcing moves
NEW DELHI (AFP) Jun 17, 2003
Indian Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said Tuesday that attempts by some
states in the United States to ban information technology outsourcing from other
countries amounted to a denial of market access."Such moves are vitiating the
environment as it is tantamount to denying market access in an area in which
India has core competence," he told reporters.
"Bringing in such legislation interferes with market forces," he added.
New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington have been considering
stopping outsourcing their government information technology (IT) work.
Jaitley said the only silver lining was that US Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick had told him during a recent meeting in the United States that the
federal government was opposed to the move and called it "bad policy."
The federal government should not silently watch developments, but ought to
dissuade states from implementing any ban, he added.
The move would mean the United States was practising the opposite of what it
preached in multilateral forums where it argues for greater market access and
free trade.
India's IT industry has been worried because such a ban would have a direct
impact on one of its fastest growing business areas.
The outsourcing sector grew about 60 percent in the year to March and is
projected to surge by 55 percent to 3.6 billion dollars in the current financial
year.
Last year the business process outsourcing sector accounted for about a
quarter of the total revenue of the information technology sector in India.
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