Introduction

India is firmly established as a leading destination for offshore delivery of business processes. Having witnessed a significant expansion in both BPO export revenues and employment, the Indian BPO industry is now consciously trying to tap new markets and reduce its exposure to the traditional English-speaking U.S. and UK markets. Continental Europe has fast emerged as an important services export destination for India. Combined IT-BPO exports to the region grew at approximately 55% (CAGR) between FY 2004-2007. This growing focus towards Continental Europe has led to an increased interest in the industry to provide non-English European language support from India. This report will help answer some key questions around availability of these language skills in India.

Scope    

• The European languages covered in the report are French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese
• The report sizes language pool with relevant proficiency levels for both non-voice and voice processes
• While the report is written with a BPO industry focus, the key findings are applicable to all industries
• This report is applicable to both buyer and supplier organizations 

Contents

This report provides facts, figures, and perspectives on employable European language pool available in India, along with an overview of the Indian BPO landscape. The report sizes average annual enrollments in higher proficiency courses for respective languages to determine annual supply of language skills in India. It also assesses the employability of this language pool for voice and non-voice processes. Four city examples are included (Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai) in the report. It also provides two case examples of players doing foreign language work from India.

Some of the findings in this report are:

• French is the most widely studied language and has the largest talent pool available
• Only 14% of the students who enroll in higher proficiency German courses can be employed for voice processes in India
• The availability of language skills varies across the Indian cities. For example, while Pune has a larger pool of German speakers when compared to Chennai; the latter has a much larger Spanish pool