Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Interesting Fact of the Day II

In 1990, U.S. exports of goods and services to Inida were only $2.5 billion. By 2003, thirteen years later, U.S. exports to India had doubled to $5 billion.

Between 2003 to 2005, in a period of only two years, U.S. exports to Inida tripled from $5 billion to $15 billion, and in 2006, it is estimated that exports to Inida will exceed $19 billion!

We hear a lot about outsoucring TO India, but hear as much about our exploding exports of U.S. merchandise and services TO India.

For example, in "The World is Flat," Thomas Friedman describes the "24/7 Call Center," a typical call center in Banglaore (where I am currently visiting):

"All the computers are running Microsoft Windows, with chips designed by Intel. The phones are from Lucent (now Alcatel-Lucent). The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke. In addition, 90% of the shares in 24/7 are owned by U.S. investors. So even with the outsourcing of some service jobs from the U.S. to Inida, India's growing economy is creating a huge demand for many more Amercian goods and services."

1 Comments:

At 3/01/2007 7:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The computers, the chips, phones, air-conditioners although sold by US companies are probably not built in the US.

So although this may be creating a huge demand for American goods and services is it really creating as much of a demand for American labor or contributing to American non investment income?

Then again can we really call these goods American? Given that american companies are becoming more and more global and owners/investors in these companies do not really care who buys their products or builds their products as long as they are making their returns. Is it possible that these companies are on their way to becoming shells that exist in the US to take advantage of stronger protections and special status they are afforded in this country - similar to the tax protections that some companies realize out of incorporating in the Bahamas.

 

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