3 cheers heard round the world....

An Industry in India Cheers Bush's Victory
By SARITHA RAI
Published: November 4, 2004

ANGALORE, India, Nov. 3 - India's outsourcing companies were jubilant Wednesday that the elections in the United States will return President Bush to office.

"This is great news for the offshoring industry," said Nandan M. Nilekani, chief executive of Infosys Technologies, a software services company. The trend toward outsourcing will now become even more inexorable, Mr. Nilekani said.

Offshore outsourcing, or the moving of work from the United States to low-cost centers like India, was an issue in the presidential election. The Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, blamed Mr. Bush and outsourcing for the loss of thousands of American jobs.

Mr. Bush, in contrast, was largely silent on the issue. But members of his team, among them N. Gregory Mankiw, the chief economic adviser, and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, have both defended outsourcing as another form of free trade.
Mr. Kerry referred to ''Benedict Arnold companies and C.E.O.'s'' that sent jobs overseas. He promised that as president he would end tax deferrals for companies that send work abroad.

The tone of some campaign comments criticizing outsourcing was noted with some concern in India. The Times of India, the country's leading newspaper, called outsourcing the "swear word" of the 2004 elections. Thousands of workers in India's technology centers like Bangalore and Hyderabad closely followed the campaign. India's outsourcing industry employs over 800,000.