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India urges low-key action against western outsourcing protectionism
HYDERABAD, India (AFP) Jan 13, 2004
India's Information Technology Minister Arun Shourie urged Asian countries Tuesday to use low-key lobbying rather than loud protests to counter attempts by western nations to curb outsourcing.

"We have got to (make a fuss) about outsourcing in a low-key manner. It should be done by informal networking, not by passing resolutions," Shourie told an Asia-IT ministers' summit in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Increasing numbers of foreign firms are moving software development, call centre, accounting and other jobs to India and other Asian nations to take advantage of their low-cost, highly skilled workforces, provoking howls of protest from employees in the west.

India has "contacted individual senators, governors, secretaries, trade union activists in the UK" to oppose protectionist moves and its efforts were bearing fruit, Shourie told the meeting.

"See the results," he said. "In the US, legislations being introduced are not (being) passed in any states. In the United Kingdom -- from (Prime Minister Tony) Blair to other ministers -- they are not going to stop outsourcing."

He said India had been meeting US senators for more than a year to battle protectionist efforts and had also started similar lobbying efforts in World Trade Organization forums and other venues. "That's the way to do it," he said.

Shifting work from Europe and the United States to Indian cities including New Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad and Bangalore can cut costs for global firms by up to 40 percent, figures show.

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