Bangalore: There would be a political backlash in the US against outsourcing IT work to India during the election year, but the fundamental economic value of offshore outsourcing to American companies will allow the industry to continue to grow, a top US IT official said today (Nov 4).

Delivering the keynote address on "India as a product destination" at the Product and Embedded Software Summit 2003, organised by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) at the ongoing Bangalore IT.COM, BMC Software president and chief executive officer Robert Beauchamp said there would be a backlash due to political considerations in the US, where an economic rebound had not created jobs.

"But as studies have indicated that for every one Dollar invested in India, the value derived by the US economy is between $ 12 to $ 14," he said.

Beauchamp said the backlash could be arrested if there is awareness of the benefits from outsourcing, and eventually help create more jobs in North America.

Terming the shift of business and IT outsourcing to India as fundamental and irreversible, he said technology development in India is no longer a competitive advantage, and "it is a must have" which will help the Indian and global economy see dramatic improvement.

Citing various studies, he said they indicated improvement of performance, besides cost savings for US firms from outsourcing to India.

He warned of more protectionist measures in 15 US states, which have not signed to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against Indian firms.

PTI