New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (April 25, 2004) said outsourcing from India should not be seen as a threat by anybody and those countries favouring free trade cannot object to it.

"Outsourcing from India should not be seen as a threat by anybody...Those who have been preaching the philosophy of free trade cannot possibly object to outsourcing," he said in an interview.

Vajpayee said after initial concerns in Western countries, there was now greater appreciation of the inevitability as well as the benefits of outsourcing.

He said outsourcing was beneficial to both the country that receives these services and the country that provides them. "This kind of mutuality should be strengthened as national economies become more and more integrated and inter-dependent in the era of globalisation."