India as an Offshoring Destination: A Historical Perspective

As debates rage on across the globe on the economics of Offshoring work to India in the IT & ITES space (BPO), it is time to view outsourcing from the right perspectives. The Cost perspective is often harped upon by both Indian companies and their offshoring clients. However the root of Indian competitiveness in this space is not often discussed. This article only offers that historical perspective on why India is suited to be BPO Hub of the world.

"Off shoring" is the system of packaging a set of your organization's tasks and hiring another company situated in another country to perform these tasks for you as a Billable Service. The service providing company provides you a dedicated workforce to perform these tasks for mutually agreed cost and quality terms.

Why India?

The crux of "Off shoring" is "COST" and better operating margins for the companies' off shoring to India, China or any other country. But "COST" and "PREDICTABLE & CONSISTENT QUALITY" would be more like it.

India has an edge because you have decent quality English speaking people who are willing to do routine work ("Grunt Work") at a highly competitive price. As long as it maintains that edge, remains consistent and predictable, India has a place as the Software backyard and the BackOffice of the world. A large IT Manpower pool and dominance of English in higher education system only helps to build India as a preferred choice for "Offshoring".

The reason why India is able to have such consistent IT & ITES workforce has nothing to do with India becoming a big power in the IT Space or brilliance of Indian Programmers or the fantastic engineers of our IITs. It is a consequence of our McCaulay System of Education which over 170 years old .

McCaulay & India

Thomas Babington McCaulay (1800-1859) was posted in India in the first half of the 19th Century (1835 -1837) under Governor General William Bentick when India was just brought fully under the control of the British Empire. The British throne exercised control on India through its agency the British "East India Company". The Company waged bloody battles for most part of the 18th Century in India to control political power and every possible resource in India. From 1784 onwards there was a "Board of Control" with members from the House of Commons which defined the relations between the Crown and the Directors of the East India Company.

Coming back to McCaulay; Thomas Babington McCaulay, a master of English prose and literature, was elected twice as the member of the House of Commons, and served as one of the commissioners of the Board of Control for 18 months (1831-1832) whereon he got involved in Indian affairs. The British crown wanted to appoint a person who was not in the offices of the East India Company as a member of the Supreme Council in India. In 1833 McCaulay was appointed to the Supreme Council of India and traveled to India. By the time he sailed backed in 1837, he laid the foundation for two of the most important systems which would change India as a country - the Indian Penal Code and the education system.

The foundation for English Education

In one of his speeches to the House of Commons in 1833 before coming to India, McCaulay outlined his plan for perpetuation of British governance in India through representative institutions of the government similar to the European model of governance. This institutional framework designed to manage the British supremacy required to be staffed with people who understood the language and the systems. So came up the need for training Indians to occupy these positions. McCaulay was of the opinion that Indians were perfectly in position to be trained to staff a new system of governance. To quote McCaulay "That the average of intelligence and virtue is very high in this country is matter for honest exultation. But it is no reason for employing average men where you can obtain superior men. Consider too, Sir, how rapidly the public mind in India is advancing , how much attention is already paid by the higher classes of the natives to those intellectual pursuits on the cultivation of which the superiority of the European race to the rest of mankind principally depends. . . ." . This observation made 172 years back is relevant even today and will find a familiar echo with many supporters of Offshoring to India.

McCaulay outlaid the plans for Indian Education System in the McCaulay' Minute of Education which was reviewed and passed by Governor General William Bentick in 1835. William Bentick agreeing to McCaulay's view concurred that the true objective of the British government should be the promotion of European Literature and Culture in India thus laying the foundation for a permanent position for use of English Language in Indian Education. Today English has come to stay in Free India. Whether the supporters of Indian languages like it or not, it is impossible to replace English as the medium of instruction in higher education, language of governance and the language of technology long after McCaulay and the British have gone. The medium of instruction in Colleges and Universities across India is English and will remain so for a long time in future.

It is this very foundation of English based education rooted in history that makes it easier for Indians to be a preferred choice for BPOs and offshoring work from US other English Speaking countries.

The root of Indian Work Ethic The other important perspective which often is ignored is that McCaulay education plan was not just about teaching English to Indians. It was propagating a system of governance and making Indians suitable to occupy positions in the Institutions which represented this system.

To quote "We will create a system of education that will not change their color but will make them 'white' in their thoughts." (There is no record to show McCaulay actually used these exact words but he must have said something on similar lines). Here we have to remember that in 1830s - "white" meant largely European. At that time Europe was in the post Renaissance era where most of the foundations for what would come to be called modern science and technology was already laid. The use of mechanization was dawning upon the modern world; this would eventually lead to the Industrial Revolution and the birth of the factory system which is the rock bed of any economy even to this day. McCaulay's remarks on "white in thoughts" should be viewed from this perspective. McCaulay would never have realized that one day this bridge built to advance British dominance in India would also help free India to be able to do business and be on par with technological advances of other erstwhile British Colonies.

By the beginning of 19th Century the British dominance in India was complete. What was earlier a conglomeration of princely states with independent rulers had to be brought under a single system of governance. While the military power which helped British gain control over India in the 18th century was important, it would not help maintain a civil framework and also allow for the British rulers to discharge the fundamental duties of any ruler - to collect taxes and maintain law & order. They needed a framework of administrative and judicial institutions in India. The senior positions in these Institutions would for almost a century later be the exclusive preserve of the British, it did not make economic sense to employ British for staff positions in the offices of the government and many civil institutions. The only option was to train Indians for these positions. In a country as complex and elaborate as India it meant creation of an elaborate education system which would ultimately enable Indians to exploit job opportunities being thrown up by the British Indian Government.

The British Indian Government offered Indians the first real opportunity to be exposed to western Work Ethic. Some of the precepts of this Work Ethic would be

(a) Employment based on Qualification

(b) Fixed Work Timings,

(c) Designations associated with Job Roles

(d) Defined nature of Work

(e) Documenting work activities

(f) Job Hierarchy and promotion based on Seniority (it would still take sometime for Indians to break the Glass Ceiling and become officers in British Indian Government) and most importantly

(f) Fixed Monthly Salary.

This would be the first exposure of Indians to a new work ethic which they imbibed for over a century and would eventually build what is known as the Indian Middle Class. More than anything else, the last precept was a major attraction for a large majority of Indians. For somebody who could not suffer the vagaries of an agrarian life or did not have acumen of a trader, a job with a government institution offered opportunity for a decent livelihood as long as you had western education, communicated in English, where disciplined and obedient. That, being a part of the government increased your social standing was only a bonus. This was the primary reason Indians immediately gravitated towards this new work ethic and the education system which was the stepping stone for this opportunity. Today a large part of Indian government, trade, business and Industry still runs because of this Work ethic.

The Work Force to Staff Offices

McCaulay's contribution through his education plan, more than teaching English, was to create a system which would churn out disciplined, obedient and productive staff to man the offices of the British Indian Government.

For more than 170 years later this system of Education has remained largely unchanged. It is too elaborate and too complex for anybody to change. The precepts of the system are so fundamentally strong that it would be impossible to change. Only new layers of Higher Learning have been added to the existing system through the IITs, IIMs and other Institutions of higher learning. But the Core of the education system, the Work Ethic it imbibes and the predictability of work force it produces is the same for the last couple of centuries. Individuals vary in the degree of their learning depending on the opportunities presented to them and their individual competencies. This self sustained system of English based Western Education and Work Ethic which offers Predictability of the work force are fundamental reasons which will help India to be a preferred choice for off shoring work and establish itself in the BPO Sector. China has only now realized the importance of using English as the business transaction language and is all set to teach English to its populace with vigor. Lower Employment Cost is no doubt a distinct advantage, but a history and system which is designed to produce predictable people to handle office jobs in English is a supremely distinct advantage.

The Flip Side

This 200 year old system of Education and all its associated values has its flip side. As I have stated in the above passages, irrespective of the nature of higher learning, the core of the educational system is to produce a work force which is predictable and obedient. The Work Ethic for which the British set the foundation has predictability, obedience and repetitiveness as cornerstones. This makes a large part of the Indian workforce very good at predictable and carrying out defined activities.

Questioning things the way they are done, trying to change the rules of the game, Innovation and Creativity are something which cannot be expected out the products of this system. This is primarily the reason that even in the IT space we have a very large number of IT Services and ITES companies. The largest number of CMM Level 5 Companies (CMM is all about Consistency!) but not a single IT Product company. The situation is no different in traditional manufacturing sectors. TATAs being able to design and manufacture a passenger car named - Indica was considered a breakthrough in the Indian industry, which almost 50 years after Independence was stilling producing vehicles on western and Japanese designs. Coming out with a new product in IT or any other Industry requires individuals who are not only Innovative and Creative (Latest buzzwords) but are strongly committed to Question the very existence of things as they are now. There are no doubt positive movements towards this direction, but it will be a while before our education system can produce such individuals.

Vijay V Bhat, Mechanical Engineer and MBA from Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD,India, currently employed as a Consultant with Infosys Technologies Ltd. The views expressed here are his and does not represent his employer. He has previously worked with manufacturing and automotive companies in India in the sales and marketing arena. He has also taught students in the Engineering and Management fields in Indian Colleges.(Also Visit :http://www.competeindia.blogspot.com)