"I shall make all endeavours to make India the world's hub for outsourcing skilled manpower in the IT sector," Dayanidhi Maran told reporters as he took charge of the IT and communications ministry.

Maran said India's new left-leaning government would have a committee chaired by the finance minister to deal with the backlash against outsourcing, especially from the United States.

A host of foreign firms have set up Indian bases to take advantage of a vast pool of computer-literate, English-speaking workers who earn a fraction of their Western peers' wages.

About 830,000 US service jobs will have moved to lower-cost countries by the end of 2005, US-based Forrester Research said earlier this month.

Democratic candidate John Kerry has promised that if elected US president, he would make the most sweeping reform of international tax law in four decades to halt the flow of US jobs overseas.

SPACE.WIRE