The explosive growth of telecommunications and computing has abolished distance, with the result that services can be performed and delivered a whole continent away, without any change in either the quality of service or the efficiency with which it is delivered. The result will be a migration of services to low-cost centres, in exactly the same way as manufacturing has moved away from the First World to developing countries.

India's competitive advantage in providing services is well known- we have a large educated population, able to read, speak and write English. In addition, a large proportion are computer literate. And Indianshave developed a brand equity so far as work in computing is concerned. This should make the country a natural destination for all sorts of IT enabled services.

These will include call centres, where customer calls, reservations, complaints etc are handled from a centre in India. It could be medical or legal transcription services. Or it could be backroom services such as billing, record keeping or accounting. Processing claims for insurance companies could also be shifted to India. The time difference between the US and India makes this even more attractive, since India works while America sleeps. Only the surface of the potential has been scratched with companies like GE Caps and Lufthansa setting up centres for transaction processing in this country.