Emerging Demographic and Talent-Pool Challenges: Implications for Outsourcing to India

Human capital has always been an extremely important determinant of individual and social progress. In the present scenario, it is centripetal instrumental for developing economies in an increasingly competitive, services led, knowledge driven global economy. The degree of responsiveness of the skilled human resources on the overall development and specifically the economic growth has been well established. Notwithstanding, the known linkages between economic growth and human capital, it is pertinent to understand the significance of the skilled talent-pool in the knowledge economy and hence in the economic development. This paper highlights the emerging trends in the global economy with increasing reliance on the knowledge driven sectors for growth. It focuses on the emerging issues and challenges in the face of ageing population in developed countries, availability of skilled workforce and the increasing trend of relocating services jobs through off shoring and their likely impact. The study analyses the implications of changing global demographic trends and strength of Indian talent-pool for competitiveness in off shoring and outsourcing work. It argues that changing demographic profile of high income nations and off shoring provides India with an opportunity to increase its pace of economic development. It examines the higher education infrastructure in India and the quality and depth of skilled human resources coming out of this system to capitalize on this opportunity. It deliberates whether India can leverage its talent-pool capital and demographics to build/sustain the competitive advantage or not.