BPOs may feel inflation heat soon
MUMBAI: The Indian BPO sector may also feel the heat of double-digit inflation, causing vendors to increase prices for their services, a study published in June by research firm DataMonitor seems to indicate.
The study that tracked pricing for contact centre services globally found that one of the largest influencers on price shifts in the outsourcing sector relates to changes in inflation in the delivery locations.
“Across selected markets, there has been some increases in general pricing ranging from as low as 2.4% to nearly 8%, which need to be taken into account by the vendor in the form of reduced levels of profitability or by passing inflationary increases back to the client,” the study carried by lead analyst Peter Ryan and his team said.
The study was based on how inflation moved in 2007 in UK, US, Mexico, China, India, Philippines and other countries.
India had the highest rise in inflation among the listed onshore and offshore locations after Philippines and South Africa.
The study was done across three categories, onshore locations such as UK and US, mature offshore locations such as India and Philippines and emerging offshore locations such as Argentina and Chile.
Even after accounting for inflation-related price rise, India’s offered the second-lowest contact centre prices among the mature offshore markets. Contact centre prices, which are typically priced on a per agent basis, was on an average $13.5 an hour for India and $11 for Russia.
Source : The Economic Times