''Notion of US jobs being outsourced to India is exaggerated''

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 18 (PTI) The notion that jobs fromAmerica are being outsourced to India is "vastly exaggerated",a top Obama administration official has said, adding Indo-UStrade and economic relationship is a two-way process and notheavily tilted towards any one.

"I think that is vastly exaggerated," Robert DHormats, the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy andAgricultural Affairs said at a discussion here when BobSchieffer, anchor of the CBS News "Face The Nation", asked himabout the general impression about India.

"To a lot of Americans, India is the place whereAmerican jobs are simply outsourced. We all know about thetelephones and all of that. What is that situation?" Schiefferasked.

"People watch the TV show "Outsourced" and they seethis. But what is not commonly realised is the fact, first ofall, that a great deal of trade goes on the export side. Indiahas increased its imports from the US by 17 per cent over thelast 12 months.

Indian investment here is beginning to pick up. Anumber of big Indian companies are investing here, whichcreates a considerable number of jobs in this country,"Hormats said.

"The other thing that''s interesting is India''s growthmodel is a lot more balanced than the growth models of manyother countries. India is not a country whose developmentmodel, whose growth model, is based on export-led growth, asis the case with some countries further to the east of India,which is very different," he said adding that India has a morebalanced model.

The trade is not way out of balance between exportsand imports, from a global point of view. And it is not a hugeexporter of manufactured goods to the United States, whichcompete with manufactured goods in this country, he said.

"So when you look at what they export and you look atthe relative balance between imports and exports, it does notcause the same kinds of problems that people attribute to someother countries or raise the same kinds of issues that peopleattribute to other countries," Hormats argued.

"In addition to that, there is a lot of cooperationbetween American companies and Indian companies. India haswhat they call "frugal innovation or innovation where theydevelop a new kind of product with sort of lower price points.

But they work very closely with American companies," he said.