British companies have offices in India

Hi hiccup.:( I am so sorry to know this.:( But then, u have a right to ur opinion.:) Well, my opinion is - suppose a company in Australia (u r Australian I believe) outsources to a country like India or China, it pays a salary as per the cost of living out here. Therefore, the company all save almost 40 to 60 percent on wages. That can be used to expand its business there. In the meanwhile, it creates a market out here for its products, which we may now be able to afford. Effectively, it has a chance to increase its exports at a future date! Of course, it is not guaranteed that I will buy the products from ur country only. But our population is higher, so even if a percentage of it buys, ur company there flourishes. Now, the other aspect of it - incomes in ur countries - read the US, have reached an unmanageable level. Obviously, they need to come down, and so also cost of living. The difference in income in some categories is almost 10 times! Anyway, once this initial pain subsides, logically, cost of living should also come down in ur countries, because the producer will realize that if they dont bring down the cost of their produce, there will be no buyers! After all, pay scales would come down by arbitrage across the globe.:) Do let me know what u think.:)

Wow! Nicely said Vandana...

Price of goods do not come down are most times the goods are faulty from the UN-SKILLED workers they use.

I do not but Indian Electrical goods as I have found most poor quality and poor value for my MONEY.

HICCUP/

Hey hiccup, I agree that there is difference in quality issues. We do not maintain ur standards because our quality standards are much lower.:( However, I think maximax was talking about outsourcing of customer relations activity - and her accent. I do agree that not everybody's accent can be understood perfectly.:( We've more problems with Australian accents.:) British accent should not pose a problem because we do get to watch BBC, and of course we also have access to CNN - so American accent is also manageable. However Australian news has not made inroads in our countries. I meant - if some such activities like customer relations can be outsourced so that ur companies make more profits, then eventually, there may be a market for ur own products out here, because people here will be able to afford to buy such products, and u all are not worse off for it. U all have manufacturers of televisions, microwave machines, and even laptops. After sometime, the market gets saturated, what are the businesses supposed to do then? Obviously, look for alternate markets. When sales do not keep ahead of production, then there will be losses! And companies will file for bankruptcy! So whether we are there in the picture or not, that is what is possibly the concern of the businesses out there, because u all do everything in very large scales. Of course, it will pinch a section of the society in ur countries very hard. But as I understand it, salaries have moved up so much taking cost of living along with them, that there is nobody willing to look at the possibility of existence with some changes! So if a software engineer there is earning well, invariably the prices of milk and vegetables will climb because the software enginner can afford! And because of this, others also have to pay more for their basic necessities, because of which they need to be paid higher wages! Now, if software jobs are exported for a while, then the software engineer will find himself unemployed for a while, but he can get into the next job at a lower level. This arbitrage process can go on till a time, where outsourcing jobs no longer looks lucrative and the jobs will return back to ur countries. Because salaries of software engineer, and subsequently, those of others in ur country come down, the producer of necessary stuff, like food, clothing, and medicine, will also have to bring down the prices. This would be necessitated because people would no longer be able to afford paying that high price! So eventually, cost of living will get down to a realistic level. I am of the opinion that when earnings are more than 3.5 times the cost of living, then economic problems start surfacing. Of course cost of living may be considered from individual to individual bais. U may need to drive to downtown every day, whereas I have ample grocery stores just a 100 feet from my house. Therefore, I dont incur any charges towards petrol for my shopping, nor vehicle maintenance. But it is a necessity for u! I am just trying to explain why outsourcing makes economic sense for ur country as well. Please do not feel offended if u r not convinced. U have every right to feel annoyed as far as quality of goods is concerned. As I said, after we received independence the government here did not stipulate higher quality standards, because it wanted to generate employment!:( People were not skilled enough, nor educated.:( We've got accustomed to that.:( But u r under no obligation to compromise. If u insist on quality, our product qualities will improve. At least make some noise. After all, we can no longer call ourselves uneducated, and without skills.:(

@ vandana
RE: the company all save almost 40 to 60 percent on wages. That can be used to expand its business there. that's possible, but I don't see many of these companies expanding and employing more people, but I do see bosses and supervising staff being awarded big bonuses. Meanwhile British workers are crying out for jobs.

What you say is Know as PIGS WITH THEIR NOSES IN THE BUCKET,As these pigs suck the guts out of everything, and they never put back or give back...We have seen it in WALL Street, PIG and their nose in the bucket sent the WORLD BROKE.Same as these companies in India now, India think they are winning Fools then, they have been had and they do not see it.Low wages/poor work condition and Id say sweet nothing in OH&SWiat till the death in the work place hits them and see how they CRY.But at this point you can't talk to them, they do not want to know as they know it all.HICCUP/HICCUP/

Hi hiccup! I admit our conditions were worse before! So thinking that we are winning, is natura. But u mentioned that we have been had (confused). May be u could elaborate on that one.:) I have all the patience in the world to read volumes. LOL. But please - simple and straight language. I am not accustomed to ur style of talking - the pigs and buckets confuse me.:( I'll learn it in due course dont worry. Hopefully, u will teach me. LOL.

I am sure you understand that it was WALL STREET bankers who pulled the WORLD down this time and sent many broke.

These banks are a private company and do as they please, they lent out money they did not have and also to those people who could not afford to pay it back.

This is the second time the WALL street bankers have done this.

All the heads of these banks make many millions a year as their personal income at the exspence to share holders and those who bank with them.

(these are the same people Jesus Christ kicked out of the temple and they were called carpetbaggers and are evil people not much different to today's bankers.)

These are those I say are PIGS and the Bucket is the money they Gobble up, yours and mine, I do not trust banks.

What is happening in India today is these world corporates are investing in India due to the low/low wages, They do not have to do much as most Indian people have a paying job, but sad these corporates are stealing from the Indian worker in Conditions and wages and other benefits they should have.

One only has to look at the USA/England/Germany/Australia/Canada/Japan and see what the workers in each of these countries had in their work place as the normal and any Indian person will see they are being Robbed by these corporates.

HICCUP/

Hi hiccup, that was a nice explanation.:) Thanks for taking pains to elaborate.:) U said compare with other countries. But without these corporates, we wouldn't have even this much! The way our population continues to grow, and politicians refuse to take a firm stand.:( So to that extent, I guess we are grateful for the small mercies!

Some of the richest people in the world are Indian and I do not see these people helping or doing anything to help India or the Indian people.

Millions of Dollars are used to support the cricket team, 11 men, waste at its best.

They to me are far from what Gandhi taught. How sad he must be in what he sees now.

HICCUP/

Hi hiccup, couldnt agree with u more.:) But they may be confused whom to help, how much to help. It is like trying to fill a bucket with many big holes. No amount of funds can really help, unless something is done to fix these holes. Look, I am using ur language now - buckets! LOL

Different buckets.

The bankers have big pockets their own and only think that way. Greedy greedy people.

HICCUP/

I appreciate this discussion.

This of mine is turning out to be very interesting. Many thanks.

This form of RIP OFF has and is not new.

Japan after the 2nd WW, Taiwan,also, Hong Kong many years ago.

China, India, They tried to do this in Vietnam but they seemed to be smarter and play the game hard and seem to be winning better things, but Vietnam still has a long way to go. I do hope they make it.

In one way it is good as people get a chance to work, but the backers make so much and never put back.

They know they can make or brak a Country and thats the game they play.

Zenith company is another who rips their workers off.
They make Radios/TV and the like.
In the village near their main Factory, and this is where their workers come from, They live in slums, on dirt floor, no running water, and no health centre.
This company has been there 40 years and the village is much like it was at the start.

many of the people can not afford to even buy the Cheapest radio from or of Zenith.

So much for that Company I never will ever buy Zenith.

They do not look after there workers and rip them off and have done this for over 40 years.

Some one is turning a blind eye to this company.

HICCUP/

Hi involved62, u r right! We get almost 1/10th what is paid in the U.S., and the present recession would have been more acute had this outsourcing not been there! That is because ur companies would not have made that much of profits, and therefore, they would not have managed to pay back the debts, and the stock markets would not be booming, and therefore, foreign monies would not be moving into ur country. As I mentioned under the 1st post, u all need to develop a market for the future. TVs are not changed everyday, nor washing machines. So there will come a time when the American market will be saturated in respect of such things. Without demand for such things, obviously, the industry will wind up and so will alied industries, and eventually the recessionary effect will take over. My logic tells me that when incomes exceeds 3.5 times of cost of living, then the problems start in any economy. I think in the US incomes reached ridiculously high levels. When incomes climb, even the services become expensive, effectively creating a gnawing gap between the lowest level, and services provider. That vaccum is being filled by Indians. The other alternative is to freeze/lower incomes, thereby create a cascading effect. Once that is done, cost of living will automatically come down because producer of the goods will have no choice other than lowering the prices of goods, as at lower income levels, people cannot afford to buy costlier goods. But these are my surmises. I have yet to locate the right link/book.

So America had businesses in India too then. Well that that the employees are paid one tenth of similar employees in the USA is very sad.

I have a British accent and find taking to Indian people really easy. However some accents to difficult for one nationalities to understand. A fellow European in Australia asked me what "Good da' howya goin' mate" meant and I said good day, how are you my friend.

Thank you for sharing those thoughts, Maxima. I have not given much thought to how the labour market works. It reminded me too much of how I nearly flunked labour economics while I was at the university. But as a rejoinder to your comments, I think subcontracting services makes it cost-effective for companies and in a way, is mutually beneficial as outsourcing provides/creates employment. They might not be paid much, but since their developing economies have certain standards, companies cannot also distort the wage market too much by paying higher salaries than what the average worker earns.

Most call center jobs in the USA are only minimum wage or even less. they can get away with paying very little IF they also give commission. A couple of years ago I was on hold for 10 minutes waiting my turn and when someone did get on the line i could not understand them so I hung up.

It is terrible that Indian call center staff are paid so little. I can now see it happens in the Philippines as well. I am fortunate that I can understand many accents because I am a keen traveler and I have spoken with many different nationalities.

Yes, it probably costs less money for the companies and at least it does give employment to the some of the Indian people.

Rich people in my home country can get a British nanny. Some decide to get an au pair. She might come from a country like Poland and she will be cheaper to employ.

Yes, India used to be a colony of Britain and it gets on well with Britain. I am glad the employees think their pay is good. Having been to the USA three times in my life I know it is not very cheap to travel around it.

Thanks for telling me the likely salary is about RS10k which is about US$200 per month. It is shocking to hear that and worse to think that some workers get paid about half that amount. Unemployment can make people happy to work to low wages. It is interesting that China is being used too for outsourcing.