It's about body piercings, sex, film and popcorn

Filed in archive Outsourcing News on September 23, 2005

Naryan Mitra argued that the rise of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) "has become a double-edged sword for India". In his article published in the India Times News Network entitled 'It's about body piercings, sex, film and popcorn', Mitra gave the positive and negative aspects of the BPO boom. The article focuses on Indian youths who make up most of the BPO workforce in the country.

He cited world recognition for India, rise in employment and earnings as positives from BPO. However, he identified the decline of India's cultural identity as a negative effect. He continued to argue that these young cyber-coolies or BPOwallahs are willing to forget their heritage for all the comforts that working in the BPO industry brings. He asked if Indians have to lose their identity in order to adapt to BPO culture.

Mitra explored how BPOwallahs are behaving with their newfound spending power and success, and reported that they are more willing to spend on clothes and cars than to invest or help out their families. He noted that these youths are just concerned about consumerism and has turned away from Indian teachings. And according to him, these youths do not even know what is happening around them.

With these, he said, "The problem with BPOwallahs is their warped sense of values". He thus called for a wake up call and a return of national pride amidst globalization.

Read the entire article here.

Image Source: www.cyberheritage.com