Dear Reader,
Greetings. The growth of the outsourcing industry in India has been phenomenal. While India is an acclaimed global leader in the knowledge-oriented ITeS-BPO service segment, the country is also emerging as an international hub for the manufacturing sector, especially in the field of pharmaceuticals. Most multinational drug companies are looking at India as an outpost for their research and development (R&D) activities. It is because of the availability of low cost but highly qualified scientists and skilled workers in the pharma sector. Besides pharma, medical diagnostics is another specialized field, in which India has earned a name. Added to this, is the business of medical transcriptions, which, after a brief lull, has started picking up steam again. The cover story of Outsourcing is on the above-mentioned three aspects pharma, medical diagnostics and transcriptions. The stupendous growth of the ITeS-BPO sector in recent years has been the most significant development of the Indian economy but sustaining its break-neck pace is a daunting task. It needs a strategy of the highest order of thinking. The annual Strategy Summit of The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) precisely aims to achieve this end. The magazine's focus is on the NASSCOM Strategy Summit 2006, which has identified the issue of managing and sustaining growth as a key priority of the players within the ITeS-BPO sector. Every fast-growing industry has its own in-built weaknesses. For the ITeS-BPO sector, especially in the financial services segment, protecting the personal data and customer confidentiality is of prime concern. There have been incidents of breach of data security and instances of fraud reported in the last couple of years, which has put NASSCOM and government authorities on alert. We present a feature on the joint NASSCOM-police initiative to stem cyber crimes. The spread of the knowledge industry across the country has sparked a Personal Computer revolution both among businesses as well as households. We carry a perspective write-up on this phenomenon. A similar, but silent IT revolution is sweeping West Bengal, a state, which entered the knowledge industry arena rather late. But a visionary chief minister and committed bureaucracy have put the state at par with other peers such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. We carry a detailed review of the IT industry in West Bengal. India has been making waves through its participation in various industrial exhibitions abroad. Besides this varied fare, we offer other regular features to make the Outsourcing magazine intellectually stimulating and satisfying.
Wish you happy reading

Satya Swaroop
Managing Editor
satya@newmediacomm.biz