FACTBOX-Indian outsourcing and back-office services

May 12 (Reuters) - Indian software services companies,
reliant on large outsourcing contracts from big U.S. firms like
General Electric (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and Cisco Systems (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research), are
looking to emerging markets for future earnings growth.

With recession looming in the United States, companies such
as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Infosys Technologies
Ltd (INFY.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) (INFY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) are increasingly winning contracts in
Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and
Eastern Europe. For related story, click [ID:nBOM8835]

Following are some facts about India's software services
industry:

* Indian software writing skills won recognition in the
late 1990s and helped companies overcome the "Y2K" problem.

* Wages in India are rising 10-15 percent a year, but are
still only a fifth of those paid to Western counterparts.

* In January, industry pioneer Tata Consultancy said it
would focus more on emerging markets to diversify risks.

* In October, Infosys said it aimed to expand in Australia,
China, Japan, the Middle East, Canada and Latin America.

* Industry lobby the National Association of Software and
Service Companies says sales should top $73 billion in
2009/2010.

* The sector is estimated to have directly employed about 2
million people by March, up from 1.6 million the previous year.

* Multinationals, such as IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Accenture (ACN.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
and SAP (SAPG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), are also expanding in India, as companies
spend more on technology in a booming economy.

Sources: Reuters; NASSCOM (www.nasscom.in); company
websites (www.tcs.com; www.infosys.com)
(Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan
and Louise Heavens)