India is the dominant player in the outsourcing market catering to diverse business requirements. Outsourcing to India provides the core benefits of technological agility, quality, flexibility, cost control and, time-to-market and competitive advantages. In addition, the language and cultural barriers faced while outsourcing to other countries are non-existent as Indians are proficient in English language skills and inter-cultural understanding.

The advantages of outsourcing to India can be summed up as below:

India is a talent-rich country: India has a large number of educational and training institutes of international repute, offering some of the best programs in the world. The presence of renowned technical and business schools in India ensures the availability of professionals proficient in diverse domains.

Proficiency in the English language: The lingua franca of the world, English is also the business language of India. Furthermore, all government documents and reports including the National Budget are prepared in English. India alone produces 2 million English-speaking college graduates and 300,000 post-graduates annually.

Information Technology is a top priority for the Government of India : The Indian government has established a National IT Task Force to promote IT in the country. In addition, a separate Ministry of Information Technology has been set up to expedite swift approval and implementation of IT projects and to streamline the regulatory process.

India has state-of-the-art technologies for total solutions: Offshore assignments have moved up the value chain - from data entry to large and complex turnkey projects of 200 to 300 people. A study by the Export-Import bank of Japan cites show that India is having excellent investment potential and expected to grow in the next 10-year period. A convergent network has been created by the intertwining of the ISP, Telecom, VSAT, Cellular and networking sectors. In addition, India's large business houses and Public Sector Units are working towards creating greater bandwidth availability.

Expertise in International Processes and Systems: Adherence to International Standards of Quality: India joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 27, 1945. India is a subscriber to the Special Data Dissemination Standard of the IMF. Indian organizations value the ISO certifications. To safeguard Intellectual Property Rights, India became a member of the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and, Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). India is a member of both the Berne and the Universal Copyright Conventions. Out of the 23 software companies in the world those have achieved the prestigious SEI-CMM Level 5, 15 are Indian.

Memberships in International and Regional Associations: In order to build an atmosphere of peace, goodwill and harmony as well as to promote international business, India is a member of prestigious international and regional associations including The United Nations (UN), The International Monetary Fund (IMF), The World Bank, The World Trade Organization (WTO), The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). India also maintains free trade agreements with different countries.

Trade Promotion and Business Advisory Councils: Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) have been set up for the purpose of promotion and development of exports from India. In addition, several countries seek to forge business alliances with India, recognizing India as a both growing market in terms of service provider and consumer. For instance, the U.S.-India Business Council established in 1975 by the governments of India and the United States, is the principal U.S. industry voice promoting policy to strengthen bilateral commercial ties between the two countries.

India offers a stable democracy and economic growth: India has been a stable parliamentary democracy since independence in 1947 and is one of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. The Indian service sector contributes a massive 51 per cent to India's GDP. Within this category, the most promising is Information Technology development, which grew at an amazing rate of 40-50 per cent every year during the 1990s.