Source: www.indiaabroad.com

India has moved up the off-shoring / outsourcing ladder, more than evident from the fact that most of the MNCs are getting their R&D done in the sub-continent. And now, it is Johnson & Johnson (J&J), just the world’s largest manufacturer of healthcare products that is set on India becoming a global hub for its research and development, in a move to ramp up its pharmaceutical business in the country.

Investing $17.5 million in its analytical and pharmaceutical development centre in Mumbai, the centre will be responsible for conducting early-stage drug development, and in just a few months, J&J’s professional headcount can be expected to rise from 65 to 150.

“We will develop the centre to make India an important hub of our drug research and development. We are in discussions with Indian companies and R&D institutes for drug research and clinical development of drug targets,” says Paul Stoffels, Chairman, Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson.

Conducting 15-clinical trials in India, Stoffels confirms that number is soon to be doubled, as his company makes clinical development of drugs a focus area for it’s growth in India.

J&J’s decision comes as yet another endorsement of India’s emergence as a critical R&D centre for pharma. It was only last year, Novartis another big league drugs major announced a Rs. 500-crore (Rs. 5-billion) investment in a centre in Hyderabad that will employ a 5,000-strong staff of scientists.

And, only recently, Pliva inaugurated its drug R&D centre in Goa, while in March, Astra Zeneca opened a $15-million process and development laboratory in Bangalore for focusing on new chemical entity research.

A month ago, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Syngene International - a Biocon’s subsidiary, teamed up to establish a facility in Bangalore, employing 400-scientists to work on early-stage drug development. And, just a few weeks ago, GlaxoSmithKline and Tata Consultancy Services announced the establishment of a global drug development support centre in Mumbai.

It may not be common knowledge, but if, the McKinsey report is to be believed, global clinical trial outsourcing to India in the pharmaceutical industry is estimated to be worth Rs. 5,000-crore (Rs. 50-billion) by year 2010.

Currently, Ajit Shetty, President, Global Chemical and Pharmaceutical Operations avers, J&J pharma products are marketed in India through its arm Janssen-Cilag, which manages to sell only a few of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, not even counted amongst the top-30 pharma firms in India. That could all change, as J&J ramps up its pharma operations in India, as it aims to become a leading player amongst the big league, with an organic growth strategy that involves the launch of almost all its patented drugs.

Source:www.reuters.com

Outsourcing of media and publishing is one of the most recent events in the Outsourcing industry, bringing about an unprecedented revolution in the global media and publishing business. Preceding Reuter’s decision to outsource its work to India, Time Warner’s magazine Business 2.0, New York Times, and Technology news portal CNET have experimented with outsourcing their research reports, news alerts, editing work and are looking to initiate pilot programs to get news pages designed in India.

The aim again is cost-cutting and to provide up-to date news, keeping the reports, bulletins, and broadcasts, fresh throughout the day. Reuters has acquired a base in Bangalore (a Reuters Bureau, like any other) with 60 people who are to carry out their basic data analysis, and compile tables, with over 300 non-editorial people monitoring market data. In addition, a polling unit has also been set up to make calls for collecting data, starting with Australian economic polling. The stories, however, will be written in the original centre.

David Schlesinger, global managing editor, Reuters, corroborates that the driving force behind outsourcing their work to India is to avail of the huge cost advantage. According to Schlesinger, the move meant that Reuters could broaden their coverage of US companies without incurring crippling costs. Also, they can use their New York journalists for more interesting stories, and to conduct interviews with senior company officials. Reuters is keen to benefit from the advance in technology in India, which is apt for conducting editorial and publishing work, and looks forward to a flourishing outsourcing publishing business from India.

The journalists employed by Reuters, Bangalore, cover US financial news in night shifts. Company news is reported live as it happens on the New York Stock Exchange. These journalists get an opportunity to work for the world’s biggest news agency, Reuters, for much less than their counterparts in the US. With this move, Reuters implements its massive cost-cutting program. The journalism operation in Bangalore could soon be significantly expanded, said Schlesinger.

So, while the News industry never tires of slamming the outsourcing industry in general, it seems to have discovered the benefits of Outsourcing for itself.

Source: www.indiaabroad.com

SunGard Offshore Services (SOS), a subsidiary of the $4-billion US-based SunGard Inc., offering software and processing solutions, is ramping up its India operations quite significantly, with the sub -continent emerging as its fastest growing R&D centre.

Operating in India since 1993, SunGard started off with a development centre in Pune, going on to open its second development facility in Bangalore, last year. It was the acquisition of US-based SCT Software Solutions (SOS) worldwide, 13-years ago that allowed it to gain access to India.

With SOS headcount standing at 650 last year, Ron Lang, CEO – SunGard informs: “We are witnessing tremendous activity from our Indian R&D centre. Already, 40% of the software development of the firm is carried out in India. Consequently, we intend to raise the headcount in India to 2,000 from the present 1,300 over the next one year.”

SOS has 50 development centres worldwide that average a headcount of 100 each, as Lang affirms: “India has the single largest concentration of our employees worldwide. Besides, it is the fastest growing centre carrying out all kinds of R&D.”

Explaining why SOS has plans to develop Bangalore as a centre for SOS’s core banking solutions, Lang believes Bangalore has the ideal talent for developing banking solutions software, and the firm hopes to hire 700-techies in the coming months, a significant number of whom will be deployed at the Bangalore office. And quite recently, SunGard also acquired System Access, a company specialising in core banking solutions.