Contact us | +971 4 3635663
Sponsored by   Mudabala
 
 
BETA
Loading Loading ...
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 | 23:35 GMT
 

Egypt poised to loosen India's grip on huge global outsourcing market

Gulf News
 
 

Sunday, Jul 08, 2007

Gulf News

Dubai: Egypt is well on its way to establishing itself as an important player in the lucrative and fast-growing offshore outsourcing market. But it must take some steps to facilitate its ascendance in this market if it is to become the India of the Middle East, says a Yankee Group report.

India continues to be an outsourcing behemoth, leading the offshore outsourcing market both in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO).

Currently, India holds about 60 per cent of the overall offshore market, with revenue climbing to more than $6 billion last year in the BPO sector alone, and $22 billion in overall revenue.

"Egypt, a relatively new entrant to this segment, has some unique advantages as well as some structural and perceptual problems which the government must address to facilitate the ascendance of this market if it wants to reap the economic benefits of outsourcing opportunities," says Tony Marson, Yankee Group senior analyst and report co-author.

Ambitious plan

The Egyptian government has set an ambitious target for the country to reach $1.1 billion of the global outsourcing market by 2010, quadrupling from its 2005 revenue.

Companies such as CiscoCiscoLoading..., Google, IBMIBMLoading..., MicrosoftMicrosoftLoading..., OracleOracleLoading... and Orange Business ServicesOrange Business ServicesLoading... are already exploiting Egypt's IT talent pool.

Mindy Blodgett, Yankee Group analyst says if Egypt can see where India has stumbled, perhaps it can head off some of the same obstacles India is facing today in trying to keep pace with the fast-growing outsourcing demand. Both Egypt and India allow high levels of foreign ownership of ICT companies. The allowed foreign ownership level in India is 75 per cent, while in Egypt there is no limit. In both countries, this will have a positive effect on GDP.

"Although India is far ahead of Egypt in terms of the development of IT service outsourcing, the basic indicators suggest that Egypt's ICT infrastructure is far ahead of India's ICT infrastructure. The penetration of both internet users and telephone subscribers in Egypt is three times higher than in India. Egypt will need to use this significant advantage to accelerate its development in the IT services market," says Marson. India is also grappling with several thorny labour and workforce issues.

Adding to the workforce challenges are the many infrastructure woes plaguing India like the poorly planned roads in the leading outsourcing centres.

New horizons

The Egyptian IT industry is between 15 and 20 years behind India in its development cycle and its outsourcing IT services. However, there is growing interest from Middle Eastern countries in outsourcing BPO to Egypt instead of India or Europe; this is particularly the case in the GCC.

According to the data by Mediterranean Investment Project Observatory, the GCC accounts for 29 per cent of all of Egypt's projects by value - the largest group of newly announced investment projects.

The Egyptian government forecasts that foreign direct investment by year-end will reach $8 billion, an increase of 31 per cent.

© Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.

 
 
 
Community Comments (0) - Comment on this article
The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.
 
 
 
Loading ...
 
Report Abuse
Loading ...
 
 
Loading ...
Zawya Comment Policy:
 
  1. Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
    1.1   Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
    1.2   Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
    1.3   Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
    1.4   Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
    1.5   Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
    1.6   Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
    1.7   Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
  2. The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
  3. Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
  4. By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Post Your Tender Notices for FREE
(No Sign-in Required)
 
 
Tender Notice Due Date
Creation and completion of a hospital for birth and women and children Al Qassimi Hospital in Alkhazimiyeh / Sharjah And expansions of the emergency department at Al Qassimi Hospital Alkhazmiyeh / Sharjah 22Dec09
Development of intersection of Alhamidiya / Ajman 08Dec09
Modification, Upgrading and Re-Construction of Rooms and Facilities for Fire Station at Al Aweer Power Station 09Dec09
Supply of Pulse type Self Cleaning Inlet Air Filters, Pre Filters, Fine Filters and Evaporative Cooler Pads for 'L' Phase-II Gas Turbines at Jebel Ali Power Station 07Dec09
Consultants for Supervising Commissioning Activities 23Nov09
Supply and Installation of Chain Link Fencing Along DEWA Power Station Boundary Parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road Jebel Ali 23Nov09
Supply, Installation, Testing & Commissioning of 400kV P-Station Substation and Associated 400kV GIL Works. 23Nov09
Inlet Air Chilling for Gas Turbines at 'L' Station Phase 1 at Jebel Ali. 18Nov09
BEACH WELLS AT GHALILAH POWER STATION, R.A.K. 24Nov09
2 NOS. OF 5 MIG RCC WATER TANKS AT BURAIRAT WDC - R.A.K. 24Nov09
UPGRADE OF SCADA FOR EXISTING 132/33 KV AND 33/11KV SUB-STATIONS OF FEWA NETWORK 23Nov09
LAYING & MAINTENANCE OF WATER DISTRIBUTION PIPELINES IN NORTHERN EMIRATES 22Nov09
Supply of Wound Care 24Dec09
SUPPLY OF THERMOMETER 24Dec09
Re-tender proposed service blocks at Al -rafeei park general &ladies 22Nov09
Supply and set macheine for ice making and cold store for Al Dhaid fish market 18Nov09
Digging (2) whells at weshah area near to labour accommodation at al-Dhaid 25Nov09
Lighting works at training yard in sharjah driving institute 16Nov09
Re-tender :maintenance works for labour accommodation at industrial area 3 15Nov09
Supply concrete tank and pamping room for wedding 11Nov09
 »  More Tenders
 
 
 
Community Buzz

Stories

Companies

Most viewed companies by Community in the last 24 hrs
Company Name Country Industry
Consolidated Contractors Company Overseas Construction and Design
Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Arabia Construction and Design
Saudi Electricity Company Saudi Arabia Electric Utilities
Saudi Telecom Saudi Arabia Telecommunications Services
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation UAE Telecommunications Services
Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority UAE Electric Utilities
Al Azizia Panda United Company Saudi Arabia General Retailers
Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company - Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Construction and Design
National Commercial Bank Saudi Arabia Banking
Commercial International Bank (Egypt) Egypt Banking
 

Projects

Most viewed projects by Community in the last 24 hrs
Project Name Country Sector
Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion UAE Oil and Gas
Al Futtaim Carillion - Marina Hotel (Yas Island) UAE Real Estate
Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 UAE Industry
Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro UAE Infrastructure
SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex Saudi Arabia Oil and Gas
ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant UAE Power and Water
Dubai RTA - Dubai Metro UAE Infrastructure
Al Safwa - Jeddah Cement Plant Saudi Arabia Industry
Qatar Bahrain Causeway Foundation - Qatar Bahrain Causeway Qatar Infrastructure
Qatar Bahrain Causeway Foundation - Qatar Bahrain Causeway Bahrain Infrastructure
 

Blogs

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Site is optimised for viewing at 1024 x 768 with Internet Explorer v6 and Firefox v3.0 and above.
Copyright © 2009 ABQ Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. Please read our Membership Agreement