Summary

Mauritius is emerging as an important offshore destination for IT/BPO. The industry currently employs ~10,500 people and has attracted a number of marquee global companies. The industry has also grown rapidly at a rate of ~45% per year compounded annually over last 5 years.

Mauritius is widely regarded as a relatively developed nation even though it is a part of the African continent. Its economy registered a healthy GDP growth (in excess of 5%) in recent years. Further, Mauritius witnessed a significant uptick in its services economy over the past decade. Though primarily driven by tourism, the services economy rapidly expanded into other sectors including offshore financial services and IT/BPO. Mauritius has identified IT/BPO as a key pillar for its economic growth and has put in place an ambitious vision for this sector. It targets to attract ~29,000 jobs by 2011 and also aspires to move towards “high value-added” niches. To this point, Mauritius has put in place several enabling initiatives to support the growth of the sector, including setting up infrastructure parks, talent development initiatives, and investor-friendly business policies.

This executive summary, drawn from a larger study, presents a fact-based view of Mauritius’ current IT/BPO capabilities and highlights its key differentiators with respect to other offshore destinations. The document also outlines potential ways investors could leverage Mauritius in offshore delivery of IT/BPO services. If you are interested in additional information on Mauritius, please contact the report authors H. Karthik or Shyan Mukerjee.