India offers many advantages that make it the favorite of 82 percent of US software export market (NASSCOM)

Large pool of computer-literate and English-speaking professionals

Well-recognized Information technology skills

Wide gap between personnel costs in India and developed countries

Work practices largely comply with ISO and SEI CMM standards. Three out of every four SEI-CMM 5 companies world-wide are located in India

Quality standards meet the approval of the world. India exports softwares to more than 95 countries

India has a stable political environment and pro-IT government

Reliable satellite and submarine communication links facilitate good broad-band connectivity with the rest of the world

India will continue to be the favored destination for IT offshoring despite rising wages and surging rupee. According to industry experts, emerging destinations like the Philippines, Brazil, Russia and other countries in East Europe do not, at present, pose a threat to India. It will take at least five years for these emerging countries to pip India's position. Reports suggest that on average, an IT worker's salary in India is growing at about 12 percent annually. The rupee, too, has risen by around 12 percent against the dollar this year. Despite this, an India software engineer gets only one-fifth of what his counterpart in the US or Western Europe earns.

MNCs alone cannot make a country a viable offshore market. A country needs to have local players, which have the business model and size to play a major role in developing that market. India certainly has an advantage over others in this aspect. India has a vibrant domestic market and has about five large IT service providers. Besides, the availability of quality talent pool also makes this market attractive.

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Deepak Bisht is currently working as Senior Business Analyst with MarketRx (a Cognizant company) - one of the leading KPOs based in Gurgaon, India. Prior to this, he worked with HP Analytics, Bangalore, as an Analytics Consultant for one of HP GBUs.