IT experts worried, but say no long-term threat to outsourcing

US president's Barack Obama's proposal to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas has sent BPO and IT industry pundits in India scurrying for their calculators to calculate its impact on offshoring.

"We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas," Obama said in his maiden address to the joint session of the US Congress.

Coming soon after the brouhaha over the H1B visas cornered by top Indian professionals, Obama's proposal on outsourcing has caused worry.

Still, many experts feel the move, if implemented, could end up hurting America itself rather than outsourcing to India.

"Policies of protectionism will only hinder the revival of the world economy," said Suresh Senapaty, executive director and chief financial officer, Wipro Ltd. "We feel that in the current economic environment it is imperative for global corporations to collaborate on technology and innovation," he said.

Industry bodies, however, admitted that the future posed big challenges for the Indian IT and BPO sector.

C Chitti Pantulu & Amit Tripathi/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication