Party Over for Indian Software CooliesÂ
With Indian IT majors like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services openly expressing concern over project delays and the deteriorating economic situation in the U.S., the big question is not if but when the big desi software companies will start firing their software coolies.
The economic malaise is now spreading to Europe as well.
For Indian IT companies, the U.S. is a major market and significant macro-economic weakness here cannot but have an impact on their fortunes.
The collapse of the housing market, rising tide of home foreclosures, steady disintegration of the auto industry, a weakened financial sector, failure of banks and slowdown in the retail sector are wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy.
Today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has a downbeat story on  the near term prospects of the Indian IT industry:
In a gloomy assessment, Infosys Chief Executive S. Gopalakrishnan said economic uncertainties are weighing on customers’ information-technology spending in the U.S. and Europe as the malaise of weakening growth spreads.
“That uncertainty is being reflected in [customers’] ability to increase their spending….Even when budgets are released they’re not sure if they’ll get the returns…so they are not able to kick off projects,” he said.
In response to a question on when there could be a turnaround in the market, he said: “There’s no update from our side. Uncertainty continues.”
Large firms like Infosys, TCS and Wipro are bellwethers of the Indian IT sector that has grown dramatically in the last 15 years by serving U.S. corporations that have mercilessly sacrificed American workers in their desperate zeal to cut costs.
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Party Over for Indian Software Coolies
Big Layoffs Coming for Indian Software Coolies added by SearchIndia.com on
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I dont know who has written this article but that person should be condemned and I urge SearchIndia to remove this which is just demoralising indian workers saying coolies. Even americans and europeans are treating us better than people like this.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The Indian software industry, like the call center business which came later, is for the most part peopled by coolies performing cheap labor for their Western masters with very little value addition.
You write: Even americans and europeans are treating us better than people like this.
Get real. If American or European businesses find cheaper coolies elsewhere, they’ll abandon you in a jiffy.
Now, get ready for the coming layoffs.
they are coolies when they are working in it companies so who are you as you are just writing useless crap on a [Trash Talk] up site. atleast they are working in an it firm
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Just a shortwhile ago, you were groveling on all fours before us asking us to comment on your review.
And over the last few months, you’ve posted 43 comments on the SearchIndia.com blog.
Now, suddenly because we do a post that’s unpalatable to you, we become an “useless” site? Grow up, buddy.
2. Where was your outrage when thousands of Americans lost their jobs because they went to the low-wage Indian coolies. Did you give a thought to the poor Americans.
Now that the Indian software coolies are facing imminent layoffs, you are frothing at the mouth. Low-wage Indian software programmers joined hands with greedy American corporations and aspiring Indian firms to screw American programmers.
Now, Indian companies are going to do the same to you at the first sight of some storm clouds.
As they say, what goes around comes around.
Which means, the cheapest labour sourcing country would be going to benefited???
Hey, I want a ticket to Vietnam or cambodia.
So, what was the big talk that was going for the last couple of years that Indian software industry being giant and “Innovative” in what sense then?
They only do the jobs created and crafted by American companies?
We thought Indians really invented many softwares!!!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Indian software industry is the least innovative.
We’ve been watching the industry for a long while. Much of their work is restricted to handling projects for U.S. companies. Intially via bodyshopping on-site work in the U.S. and subsequently in India itself.
Very few great products (exception is Tally financial application) have come out of Indian software companies. Even TCS struggled to sell a financial app called Ex (guess they must have abandoned it by now).
Nobody’s frothing because you said programmers are facing layoffs.
The use of coolies (that too in italics) seems like a racist cheapshot just to stir up emotions.. I’d say that the use of the word coolie is deplorable.. It is considered an ethnic slur.. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coolie
BTW, how many comments have I posted.. should have crossed 100 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. The word Coolie is used in this context to denote low-wage labor.
2. It becomes racist when a White man calls a Black man Nigger…if a Black man calls another Black man Nigger, it ain’t racist.
I think my comment would have gone to the spam bin because I used italics.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coolie is deemed an ethnic slur.
But you can probably argue that blacks using the N-word against/with each other is not considered racial.. anyway, I didn’t like your use of the word “coolie” either.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No, your comment didn’t get into the spam folder.
We were updating our iPhone 3G to the new 2.1 software…not a smooth process, looks like Apple’s going the Windows a.k.a crappy way. Hence the delay.
We’ve already responded to your previous comment.
If Indians are working in us IT firms at cheap wages instead of Americans then thats not the problem of Indians then you must blame your IT firms not us. We are accepting jobs at less wages cause there is too much competition here but that does not mean we are less capable and you are saying think of poor Americans,your companies should think of them not us,you tell me that if you are offered a job would you refuse it by just thinking that others might need the job so i must remain unemployed?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write above: that does not mean we are less capable
No one said anything about capability here.
2. You write: you are saying think of poor Americans, your companies should think of them not us
As long as there is cheap labor available outside, U.S. companies will not think of the employees here. True, it’s not your problem today. But it will become your problem tomorrow when the same model replicates in India as it will.
As Nandan Nilekani told Tom Friedman of the New York Times, The World is Flat.
But what Nandan may not have made clear is that the World is Flat for everyone, including Indians.
that settles it its not our fault its your company’s fault so don’t blame us and don’t call us names
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: its your company’s fault
When you are at it, why not also blame us for the Tsunami, the famine in Ethiopia, the fighting in Georgia…go ahead.
so according to you we should be blamed because your companies are employing us. You companies are employing,so they should be blamed,who else?
and also you have no right to insult people by saying them coolies
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: so according to you we should be blamed because your companies are employing us.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for everyone under the present system.
Just as Indians feel good about the growing prosperity, we feel bad about the evisceration of the middle class in the U.S.
Last week, there was an interesting piece in the New York Times Magazine titled The Vanishing Republican Voter in which the author David Frum writes: Inequality within nations is rising in large part because inequality is declining among nations.
2. You write: you have no right to insult people by saying them coolies
Coolie is a fine term to describe low-wage labor.
then you must be appropriately called a peon
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: then you must be appropriately called a peon
If it makes your weekend better, so be it. 🙂
To … SearchIndia.com ….
In my opinion, it really makes no great achievement to give names to people like coolies. I think your understanding is completely different than lot many people in the world about IT workers. “Worker” is a better description as it means people who work. I don’t know what similarity you found in a software worker with coolie.
You seem to be in a word war with ajayrocks. You are perhaps moderating the comments, reviewing, framing a solid aggressive attorney-style response. Wow I am impressed…
BTW, my best guess is that you are a one little depressed, frustrated person who left the shore of India many years ago and dropped your rusted stinky anchor in Delaware. Geez, are all desi’s in Delaware like you?
Get a life man. Close this site, and get a life!
>>>
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write above: “Worker” is a better description as it means people who work. I don’t know what similarity you found in a software worker with coolie.
Ah, we have a politically correct comment-worker here.
A coolie is a low-wage worker.
And the bedrock of outsourcing is low-costs or low-wages in the country to which the software development work is farmed out.
2. You write above: Geez, are all desi’s in Delaware like you?
You pompous comment-worker, it might help not to use apostrophes until you learn to use them correctly.
3. You write above: Close this site, and get a life!
Criticism is fine but you asking us to Close this site, punk? You stinking maggot, did we ask for your counsel.
If you like pro bono work so much, there are plenty of desi illegal immigrants in this country.
4. You write: Get a life man
We don’t know about your comment-worker self but we are having a blast.
5. For a comment-worker with a user-name like aquacool, you are far from cool.
Listen to this, it might (daddy) cool you down.
he he… nice catchy word coolie. a friend of mine faced the similar stuff i posted here as layoff in indian IT industry, just in case if anybody interested in reading it further.
Whether we call our Indian IT professionals as Tech coolies or IT Workers, they are hired only for their low salary compared to their American counterparts, it is a fact. There should not be a hue and cry for using the word tech coolie, since the job is not permanent and low paid (in US currency). Further calling India as an IT Giant is a false propaganda. Any IT Giant or super power will not work for American and European timings, ( 8 PM to 6 AM IST), If we were a real IT superpower, Americans should work for our Timings. That’s not so, we are still under the mercy of US companies and their projects, which is subjected to their countries economy and policies.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Interesting comment.
It is after reading the news item in SearchIndia that I too became enlightened on this subject. Until then I thought as everybody else that India is a “IT Giant” as the IT image is propagated and glorified even in movies.
Alaipayuthe, Yaradi Nee Mohini and even Sivaji (the Rich IT engineer investor) are few observations.
None has given a true & actual factors behind the greatness of the so called IT industry. I have heard about call centres but have no idea what its operations are and functions in IT field.
Good info.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: I have heard about call centres but have no idea what its operations are
From the U.S., when you call American Express or Citigroup customer service to clarify some issue with your credit card, Linksys to set up your wireless adapter, order DISH satellite TV or New York Times for a subscription etc etc etc, the call usually lands up in Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Noida or Gurgaon.
Multiply this by a thousand times for various services like mortgage, ordering subscriptions or selling products over the telephone and you’ll get an idea of the scope of the call center business…the calls made from the U.S. land up in India simply because Indian employees are cheaper.
The funny thing is some lady (probably called Meenakshi Ammal) will pick up your call and say: Hi, my name is Mandy. Thank you for calling ABCD (or whatever). How may I help you?. Often we have come across Tamils, Kannadigas and North Indians answering our calls.
Many Americans are upset over these Indian call centers because they have caused job losses in the U.S.
Thanks for the clarifiication.
I also have heard that a lot of illicit relationships and EMA (Extra Marital Affairs) things are happening in the night shift duty time among them.
One other information I always hear is that the oldest profession in the world is also benefitting and thriving side by side and number of AIDS cases rising.
So, these workers get a fast buck and drop some of them in those pit-less fleshy tills… what an IT (Insert Technology)!!!
There is a friend of mine who is a lecturer in a university who could not get a bride because of the IT boom. I hope now he may soon get married.
We all land up in a job which will pay us. On a philosophical level, there is no difference between a corrupt politician or a software engineer. Both of them
do a job they are good at and which pays them. While the politicians exploit openly and directly, software engineers become a part of a system which exploits in a covert and indirect manner.
If we carefully analyze any problem in this world, we will find that it is the tendency to avoid and disrespect physical labour.
It may be too impractical to give the same salary to every one, but certainly the people doing physical labours should be paid much more and others can be paid less.
T.Sengadir
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write above: There is a friend of mine who is a lecturer in a university who could not get a bride because of the IT boom. I hope now he may soon get married.
If what you say is accurate, it looks like the new ‘hardware’ for Indian brides lies only in software.
Of all the negative effects of the IT boom in India, your friend’s bride-less plight must surely be the weirdest.
2. You write above: It may be too impractical to give the same salary to every one, but certainly the people doing physical labours should be paid much more and others can be paid less.
We agree but it ain’t gonna happen. Even in the U.S., it’s been a herculean task to increase the minimum wage by 70 cents to $6.55 per hour this year or raise the money paid to tomato pickers in Florida.
3. We fail to understand the logic between your comparison of a corrupt politician and a software engineer.
yo Sengadir, leave the software engineers alone..
Go after CEOs and sports stars!
Dear All,
We are supporting America, UK,Canada, Japan, China, Europe. anybody knows why, They have given jobs to US. That means in there Home they have work so they have appointed US. that ultimately means we are servants to those people.
Now they are not stable, they are saying, now we dont require servants. Thats why we are facing Layoffs.
Can anybody realize the situation. We should have our own backbone to support US. We should not dependent on others. Atleast by this time we should start creating our own value. We should start working for our own people. Then only we can survive.
According to my Knowledge THE WORDS ARE WRITTEN IN THE BIBLE SAYING THAT, WORLD IS GOING TO SEE THE WORST SCENARIO BEFORE THE LORD COMES IN SKY TO RESCUE US. If anybody can remember the day from Tsunami has started. Now we are in the last seconds of the Wolrd.
Most of them may contradict with my opinions. But this is the TRUTH. We will see THIRD WORLD WAR VERY SOON when the economy has already collapsed.
I am not preaching anybody, TRUTH is infront of ALL
My dear World Citizens, Lets turn to the TRUTH.
Thanks & Warm Regards,
Sudhakar Manoharan
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. First it was the Hindu idiots fouling up this blog with their rants against Muslims.
Now it’s the Christian bozos with the Bible nonsense.
Who else is left now – Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, Animists..??
Enna Kodume saar (what agony).
2. You write: According to my Knowledge THE WORDS ARE WRITTEN IN THE BIBLE SAYING THAT, WORLD IS GOING TO SEE THE WORST SCENARIO BEFORE THE LORD COMES IN SKY TO RESCUE US. If anybody can remember the day from Tsunami has started. Now we are in the last seconds of the Wolrd.
You blithering idiot, didn’t you find some other forum to preach your bibulous Bible nonsense.
We hope in the next Tsunami all religions get washed away.
One thing I really, really enjoy is the response SI is giving to some comments…haa, haa. Hilarious.
SI: Why don’t you try script writing for Kollywood & Bollywood? You can help them in that ’cause It’s horrible (sometimes) in their movies when they say something in English.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No, Sir. No, Thanks.
Sorry, I made a mistake….
It should be Kollywood & Bollywood…not hollywood (My God)…
Sorry, for my typo.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ve fixed it in your original comment.
Nice thread … ~!
The funniest part .. people talking about Indian IT industry…. who doesn’t know the meaning for IT
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: The funniest part .. people talking about Indian IT industry…. who doesn’t know the meaning for IT
Not sure who you are referring to here.
BTW, we’ve forgotten more about IT (hardware, software, storage, OS, databases, virtualization….) than most people would know in a lifetime.
Great profile Buddy !!
But, I do not understand why, the % of Job loss is more among so called Innovative and talented people than low waged labor. If the party is coming to an end for Indian Software coolies, what about s/w professionals in US. They might have even forgot that they had a party. (From your response I started believing that you got shorter memory span).
SearchIndia.com Responds:
U.S. Software guys (except folks working on defense projects & the like) have been in bad shape for years.
I would have agreed with all your comments if it was some 10 year back. But, the things changed and are far from your perception now. You can find so many people in India, much better (in expertise, both technical and domain) than you and me. Companies started looking at India not for cheap labor but for sheer talent. (Google for it, if you want proof)
It is true that the talent may look diluted, given the vast pool of IT personnel, but, check out the top 10%, you will change your view.
If cheap labor is the only factor, it is illogical to find so many high paid Architects and Designers in India. Hope you are good enough to compete with them and your job is not Bangalored. Also please find that there are many R&D labs set up here in India, which demand for innovative minds, but not an unskilled laborer employed cheaply.
Regards,
WHATEVER
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: Companies started looking at India not for cheap labor but for sheer talent
Whatever you say, low costs are the first consideration when it comes to outsourcing.
Screw the R&D labs, India is still struggling on the product software front.
U.S. Software guys (except folks working on defense projects & the like) have been in bad shape for years.
The gigantic subsidies provided to the farmers in US, resulted in suicides of farmers in India. This is how global mechanics work.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, we are providing our tax-payer $$ in the form of subsidies to our farmers (wrong policy in our opinion).
(Some day, when we have lots of time we’ll look at the crop-wise subsidies in USA and compare it to Indian farmers committing suicides & see if there is a correlation.)
With IT, American jobs have all gone to India, Phillipines, China et al.
Screw the R&D labs, India is still struggling on the product software front.
The most part of Indian IT industry is about “Services”. There are companies which try to productize their offerings, but that is no more than a By-product in the process.
BTW, What do you think about Product Development Outsourcing?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Every country’s first obligation is to its citizens.
This means, fostering a climate where local businesses hire local workers and are not given incentives to outsource whether for product development or mundane tasks like maintenance, QA, development…
Things are really getting bad in the USA. And a lot of it is because the well-paying, decent jobs are all going offshore. Tech support, call centers for banking/creditcards/newspaper subscriptions, software development, pharmaceuticals, financial analysis, copy-editing newspapers, IP trademark and patent filing and more have all gone to India.
All right dear,
I pity you and your policy makers. Don’t worry about us (India IT “professionals”) even if you could find some free time. We started partying and we will continue that.
Happy blogging
– Whatever
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: I pity you and your policy makers
Save your pity & sarcasm for your countrymen and yourself.
[Deleted]
SearchIndia.com Responds:
This is not a Tamil blog. You must write in English.
Its so sad that the companies are laying of people due to the economic slowdown. There are sites like [deleted] that allow ppl to share their views and have more info on companies and layoffs.
hi,
the article has got verity in it..the actual term is indeed coolie and i am also one of them,i know lot of ppl will raise their voice here..but comon..we are fooling ourselves…..the term software engineering is a catchy phrase by which all Indians get lured easily who are trying very hard to get above in their life..we cannot blame people also..it is the corporations who have put Indians in the limelight..the present situation in India is like those days of the raj where the option was only to become a civil servant…this time the masters are indian brown sahibs themselves
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Unfortunately, the Indian coolies are impoverishing our country.
“SearchIndia.com Responds:
Every country’s first obligation is to its citizens”.
Me: I think professionalism and Patriotism should not be mixed, Business is not charity. If our country men are not professional or efficient, and we need every service at low cost, have to accept the solution.
“This means, fostering a climate where local businesses hire local workers and are not given incentives to outsource whether for product development or mundane tasks like maintenance, QA, development…
Things are really getting bad in the USA. And a lot of it is because the well-paying, decent jobs are all going offshore. Tech support, call centers for banking/creditcards/newspaper subscriptions, software development, pharmaceuticals, financial analysis, copy-editing newspapers, IP trademark and patent filing and more have all gone to India.”
Me:Why? because outsourcing is a business requirement. If remaining jobs in USA have to stay we need outsourcing. Do not think that policy makers who handle such huge business are fools. But if they are fools pray for rest of the jobs.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: I think professionalism and Patriotism should not be mixed, Business is not charity. If our country men are not professional or efficient, and we need every service at low cost, have to accept the solution
Oh, really.
So,let’s kick out the soldiers in the Indian Army and hire only Gurkhas. After all, Gurkhas have a reputation for valor and will presumably work for lower wages considering Nepal (like Bangladesh) is one of the few countries where things are so bad that people there migrate to India for jobs.
2. You write: Do not think that policy makers who handle such huge business are fools
They are not fools but crooks who do the biddings of the big corporations regardless of the consequences for the local citizens.
3. This notion of Free Trade is yet another ridiculous concept devised by voodoo economists, embraced by greedy corporations and rued by affected citizens.