Malaysia, Singapore compete with India in outsourcing

Bangalore, July 6: Malaysia and Singapore, along with India, have emerged the most sought-after destinations for manufacturing, financial services and outsourcing companies to manage their call centre business in Asia.

According to a first-of-its-kind study on Asia, titled 'The Asian Contact Centre Industry Recruitment Index' for 2006, consultancy organisation Kelly Services said the overall Asian Contact Centre Industry Recruitment Index for 2006 was 6.5 per cent. This was derived by dividing the total number of new staff hired for six months to March 2006 by the total number of existing staff in the contact centres in the survey sample.

''India still has the highest recruitment pace at 15-20 per cent depending upon the location, sector and whether it is captive or third party contact centre, showing a strong pace of recruitment in the country,'' the study said, adding that India's contact centre business continued to grow despite closely emerging competitors like Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

According to the study, which interviewed contact centres across nine countries in Asia, 44 per cent of the recruitment was for new positions in contact centres, pointing to growth in the industry.

Indian contact centres have the most positive outlook for recruitment, with 88 per cent of those studied foreseeing an increased headcount over the next six months.

UNI