Hyderabad: Seeking to allay fears over the outsourcing backlash, Union Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie today (Jan 13, 2004) said India's strengths in talent, skill and costs in software service would make it imperative for the US companies to outsource to India.

"It (outsourcing backlash) is a minor issue. The combination of talent, skill and cost, which India offers, is making it necessary for those firms to outsource to India, otherwise they will become uncompetitive," Shourie said on the sidelines of the second Asian IT Ministers' conference.

He said informal networking with the US officials and Senators would go a long way in helping the Indian software companies in tackling the backlash.

"Do it low key. Contact the individual Senators, Governors and secretaries in those eight States of the US where anti-outsourcing Bills have been tabled, and trade unions in the UK in a low key manner. That's what we have been doing for one year and the result is, in eight States, legislations have been introduced but not passed," he said.