India Inc takes on US politicians

The outsourcing debate rages on and this time, India Inc which is facing the heat from US Presidential candidates especially Democrat hopeful Barack Obama who has blamed Indians for the rising unemployment in the country. Corporate India in retaliation has launched a counter-offensive saying India is gifting jobs, not stealing them.An image of Barack Obama echoeing what many of his voters feel - the anti-outsourcing rhetoric - has not surprisingly upset India Inc. But its not something they're going to take lying down.In a counter-offensive, a full-page advertisement published in an American newspaper provides elaborate accounts of how India is "gifting" thousands of jobs to Americans and not "stealing" them.This is not how Obama would have it seem. He's been saying quite the opposite. Sample this excerpt from a Barack Obama speech at a rally in Ohio only two days ago, telling his voters that their jobs have been stolen, taken away by offshore companies that set up in places like China and India:Obama said: "We're here because there are workers in Youngstown, Ohio, who've watched job after job after job disappear because of bad trade deals....They need us to end those tax breaks that go to companies that ship jobs overseas."In fact, Obama has even vowed to curb offshoring by introducing a tax scheme that will reward American firms that do not ship jobs overseas. This undoubtedly is a dangerous predicament for India Inc and hundreds of thousands of BPO workers back home could be at risk of losing their jobs if Obama has his way.According to FICCI, Indian corporate investments in the country were over $10.25 billion in 2007 - but it is the timing of this advertisement which is crucial as well as interesting, coming as it does in the thick of the American debate on outsourcing.Speaking on the advertisement, Sanjay Puri, Chairman of the USINPAC - US India Political Action Committee said he understood the sensitivities where it came from."I understand... because Senator Obama is from Chicago and also a senator from Illinois, but Chicago also happens to be the heart of the Midwest, also the manufacturing base and also part of our big industrial states. So the idea is that hey, Indian companies are coming in and they are working and investing in manufacturing - and it's not just the coast, whether it's New York or San Francisco or the Bay area or California - they are going into the heartland also and investing and that was what they were trying to do," said Puri. He added that the outsourcing issue coming up in the campaign was related to the state of the US economy."It will be an issue directly proportionate to how much the US economy is in a problem, if the economy gets worse you will see that come up more in the dialogue of the presidential campaign," said Puri.