While banking, finance, services and insurance industry (BFSI) outsourcing is feeling the heat, those catering to small and medium industries abroad is reaping rich dividends from the meltdown.

“We have witnessed a 15-20 per cent growth in the last three months. Many in the tourism and hospitality sector in the UK are actually reducing cost and off-shoring many jobs, particularly the food and beverage industry,” said Murali Santhanam, Director, Top Source, a company that has around 100 clients in the UK.

The main areas of outsourcing taking place are in payroll, accounting, administrative and operational back-office services. Many players in the UK are reportedly reducing head count as a knee-jerk reaction to the financial crisis.

Industry observers feel the uncertainty about future of IT and BPO industry won’t last long.

“This is the fifth recession cycle we are witnessing. Every time there has been a financial crisis, we have bounced back. Take for instance post 9/11 or the dotcom bust, the industry recovered fast,” said Deepak Shikarpur, chairman, Computer Society of India and chairman, IT subcommittee of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).

Other players benefiting from the meltdown in the IT /ITES sector are those who work in the field of risk management.

“Growth in India is outpacing that in other countries and head count in India is set to grow. The current recession is not hampering our growth as we manage risks for clients. Now, in the current global economic scenario, more clients are approaching us to manage their risks,” said Peter Armstrong, CEO, Triple Point Technology, a US- based company that focuses on commodity risk management, which has its Indian headquarters in Pune.

Meanwhile, ‘business diversification’ and ‘managing costs’ are the buzzwords for the BFSI sector to tide over recession.

Tanveer Sulat, CEO and country head of Synechron, said, “The global recession has not had a very significant impact on our business due to our domain diversification strategy — from mortgage banking and capital markets to insurance. In addition, we got more aggressive about winning business outside the domain of financial services.”

The US-based Synechron too has its Indian headquarters in Pune