A Chicago Boy who is working in Pune forwarded some slice-of-life photos. The photos are informative and amusing, and the work he’s doing is interesting because it’s on high-tech financial stuff that wasn’t being done in India a few years ago. Indian economic liberalization, combined with tech advances that are globalizing every activity that can be done over the Internet, now make India a land of opportunity for guys in Chicago. Who’d a thunk it?
UPDATE: I have edited this post slightly to make clear that I did not mean to suggest that the people in these photos are amusing to look at.
Holy Cow!
Achal
Su-Man
Taxi
Gateway to India
Indian Charcoal
A Friend
Plumbing
Yesterday a student reporting on outsourcing said in passing that the call center where he worked (mainly computer trouble shooting)had an Indian client, although last year some of their clients had outsourced to India. Dobbs implies it is a one-way street – doesn’t look like it will be long.
I stopped paying attention to Dobbs when he started peddling anti-trade BS. He has to know better, and if he’s willing to whore himself out for ratings by adopting an intentionally provocative (and foolish) position on trade, I don’t trust him to report other issues accurately.
International trade in both goods and services benefits everyone in the long run. In the short run it breaks up a lot of profitable niches, including those of some of my friends, but that’s better than the alternatives.
Before I was weary of outsourcing, but now I’m 100% for it.
If this is from the Chicago Boy I think it is I’d like to say hi, hope you’re enjoying yourself over there.
Johnathan, the photo subtitled “Plumbing” reminded me of the toilet we had in our bathroom in Ahwaz, Iran in the late seventies.
We called it the Soap-Eater, because it was placed strategically next to the shower stall where, if the bar of soap slipped out of your hands, the soap inevitably slid like a hockey puck across the slick tiled floor and plunged into its ravenous mouth – never to be seen again!
-Steve
Don’t drop the soap.
;)
I find these photos very interesting. I work in Voice Solutions department of a major nationwide company with its headquarters in the Chicago area and we recently set up a new call center in, of all places, Pune, India. The technology that allows us to nearly costlessly place a call in the US, transfer it to India and monitor it here is astounding. The cost savings to the company engendered by opening this call center in Pune and closing another outsourced-in-the-US center is astronomical. This company is also heavily involved in outsourcing and sub-contracting in Ireland as well. Sadly, this has meant the end of employment for some of my associates, but it so strengthens the company that as the recovered economy becomes more stable, it will be in a better position to grow and hire more Americans later.
Its interesting to see the town in reality that to me has been as much an abstract as Mosco, Idaho.