Aon Hewitt's 7th Annual Rewards Conference
Performance and Pay –
The Changing Curve
Time to Take Some Risks
Pramod Bhasin
Founder and Vice Chairman, Genpact
Q. How do you see India's position changing in the global offshoring industry?
A. India is poised today to play a much bigger role in the talent landscape. The reason is
demographics. Demographics are shifting globally but in India, they are shifting in favor of the youth. Having said
that, there is a huge danger that unless we take risks and evolve our infrastructure faster, we will get left
behind. I think in the last 10 years, we already have been left behind. There is a chance today that we can try
catching up, but I think that is an area of opportunity many other countries are also striving for. It has become
far more competitive, and we need to be very aware of the risks and initiatives we have to demonstrate to be able
to establish our position in the world.
Q. Trends are changing quicker than they did in the past. How are you as a business changing with it?
A. Economies and the world are changing faster than it did before and I honestly don't think
India is keeping pace. The world is still not saying that Indian companies are taking risks. We are still not
seeing them make new products, or invest in R&D. We are not even seeing them invest in training or take risks with
their people that they need to, in order to succeed. So, there is a danger that we will get left behind, because we
are doing the same old thing that we were doing 15 years ago. As a result of that, you won't see many Indian
companies in the list of the world's best known companies. For a country of a billion people and with a very large
GDP, that's unacceptable. If you look at countries like Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, Korea – much smaller countries than
we are, they have got so many innovative companies. I think if we don't make such similar investments in new
thinking technologies, etc., all of which are at our doorsteps, we will not be able to keep pace and will stay at
the bottom of the economic ladder in terms of the kind of work that comes to us.
Q. In light of India's changing value proposition, how do you think India can maintain and strengthen
its competitive edge?
A. As an offshore destination, yes India is strengthening its competitive edge, but as a
solution provider, I'm not so sure. While organizations are still looking to offshore the lower rung of the jobs,
they still don't want to offshore the high value work. Looking at manufacturing as an analogy, all of Apple's parts
are manufactured in China because manufacturing there has gone to a level and technology which allows China to
produce some of the world's greatest products. We are not there yet in the offshoring space. There may be some
exceptions, which are often quoted, but they are far too few. We are still going to be the offshoring destination
in the world. But the question I am trying to ask is, will we be moving higher in the value chain.
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