Raising its voice: Metro Manila steals the BPO thunder from India

Though seven of the top 25 cities to set up a BPO in the global banking and capital market space are from India, it is Metro Manila in Philippines, which has bagged the numero uno position. According to a research report by Knowledgefaber, a consulting and research firm, the National Capital Region, which consists of Delhi and  adjoining areas,  stands at second position. Globally, banking and capital market industry vertical is the largest spender on business process management.

From 2010, Philippines  has been growing in its stature as a viable BPO destination.
Competitive talent in countries like Philippines, Canada and Poland, coupled with language constraint, are resulting in country’s BPO industry losing out. The $13.3-billion Philippines BPO industry grew 15.6% in 2013, compared with the 8.9% clocked by India’s $20-billion BPO space.

According to industry body Nasscom, in the past five years, India has lost about 10% market share to the rest of the world in the BPO space, most of which is in the voice contract segment.

“Philippines really took off because of the voice talent it has. Also, thanks to Philippines’ cultural proximity with the USA, companies prefer to set up their back office there.
The overall training time is thus much less,” says Nagarajan Ganesan from Knowledgefaber.

Experts say that prior to the emergence of Metro Manila, Indian cities like Bangalore and Mumbai would have bagged the top positions. At present, both the cities are ranked at fourth and third position respectively.

“In the non-voice segment, India is still the global leader. Though the  overall BPO market is huge in India, other emerging countries do pose a threat to the country. However, the fact remains that we can no longer afford to be complacent,” says Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO and managing director, HeadHunters.

Top 25 cities
1 CR (Metro Manila),
2 National Capital Region (NCR)
3 Mumbai,
4 Bangalore,
5 Chennai,
6 Shanghai
7 São Paulo Brazil,
8 Hyderabad,
9 Guangzhou
10 Beijing,
11 Moscow,
12 Pune,
13 Chengdu,
14 Bangkok
15 Dublin, Ireland,
16 Cork, Ireland,
17 Rio de Janeiro
18 Jakarta, Indonesia,
19 Kolkata,
20 Brno (Czech Republic)
21 Colombo,
22 Budapest Hungary,
23 Prague (Czech)
24 Krakow, Poland,
25 Dalian, China