India chapter 28
Compare wages for an IT job in India to the average Indian worker.
$10,000 versus $530.
Compare the wages of a US call center worker and one in India.
$46,000 versus $6,000 - saving American companies lots of money!
Why are labor costs so low in India?
1. Huge size of its workforce makes competition for jobs. 2. India's low cost of living. Basic goods like food and clothing simply cost less there, and in Bangalore specifically.
Name 3 comparative advantages India has.
1. Low wages 2. English speakers 3. Trained workers
Why don't more Indian children attend school?
1. Poverty - can't go to school AND help support family by working - no time or energy for school. 2. Caste - many Indians still link education to caste - children born into higher castes are expected to be well educated while lower caste children aren't expected to be educated.
Name some of the comparative advantages the US has in attracting foreign businesses.
1. US is highly developed country. 2. Has many skilled workers. 3. Highly educated IT professional, engineers, researchers, and business people. 4. Very high per capital GDP - foreign companies want to be close to the nearly 300 million consumers in the US.
Under Indian law, children have to go to school until the age of what?
14.
When did India gain independence?
1947
By when is India expected to have the largest workforce in the world?
2020
In 2003, how many Indians graduated from college?
3 million.
What percent of Indians who apply for call center jobs are hired?
5%
India can offer some services cheaper or more effectively than competing countries. What does that mean India has?
A comparative advantage.
What would you call the Muslims?
A large minority group.
What is a dialect?
A version of a language spoken in a specific area.
Despite the law, how many children attend school until that age?
About half.
How many people in India speak some English?
About one third.
What percentage of Indian's population is illiterate?
About one third.
How big is India compared to the United States?
About one-third.
What kind of jobs are created by foreign-owned companies in the US?
All kinds - making cars, airplanes, medical equipment; research and development of new technologies.
How is trained workers a comparative advantage over countries with less skilled workers?
American companies know the work will be done by well-trained workers.
What is a time zone and how many are there?
An area that uses the same clock time; there are 24 in the world.
The caste system was rooted in ____ ____.
Ancient beliefs.
Although India's IT industry is spread across the country, its main hub in where?
Bangalore, which is located in southern India.
What is brain drain and how did it affect India?
Brain drain is where educated people leave to go where the jobs are. Before the IT revolution, many students with technical degrees couldn't find jobs in their field so they left India to work in more developed countries, including the US.
What kind of accent do English speaking Indians tend to have and why?
British because India was a British colony.
How do they invest the money?
Buy US companies or start new businesses in the US.
How does being in a different time zone help American companies?
By setting up night call centers in India, American companies can have workings answering calls around the clock without having to hire a night shift in either country.
How do English speakers in India pick up their American accents and slang?
By watching U.S. movies and TV shows and attending American English classes.
What business has become very big in India and requires English speakers?
Call centers like customer service representatives.
What does it mean to be illiterate?
Cannot read and write.
This is the name for the groups into which people in India have been divided for thousands of years.
Castes.
Name some things used in IT or that are part of IT.
Computers, cell phones, satellites, the internet.
By 2010, the number of Indians with college degrees was expected to _____________.
Double.
What do Indians see as the best preparation for a good job?
Education.
Why is English widely spoken in India?
English is the language that people in India speak who have jobs.
How did independence affect the use of English in India?
English was widely spoken by then, and it remains the main language of business in India and also government business.
Almost all educated Indians speak what language?
English.
Many college classes in India are taught in what language?
English.
Other than outsourcing, name another way companies do business in another country.
Foreign investment, which is investment by a person or company based in another country.
What special efforts has India made to promote technical education?
Formed Indian Institute of Technology in 1951. Has seven campuses now. Ranked among the best technical universities in the world.
Why do Indians want IT jobs?
Good pay and good working conditions.
What is its setting?
Great mountains, rainforests and deserts. Also many large cities.
Despite being one of the world' poorest countries, India's economy is _____________ _____________.
Growing steadily.
What kind of people does Bangalore attract?
Highly skilled people interested in new ways to get work done.
What is India's national language and how many Indians speak it at home?
Hindi is spoken by more than two fifths.
What are the 2 main faiths?
Hinduism and Islam.
Do Americans working for foreign companies earn more than those working for US businesses?
In general, yes (but I don't believe this is true!).
How and when did English come to India?
In the 1600s by traders
How do English skills give Indians an advantage in the IT industry?
India can provide IT services in English more effectively than countries where little English is spoken.
Why are so many Indians educated?
India puts a lot of money into higher education.
What does IT stand for?
Information Technology
Why is IT part of a global revolution?
It allows us to talk by phone to people almost anywhere in the world; it allows computers to move data around the world in an instant.
What kind of political system does India have?
It is the world's largest democracy.
Does the low costs of living affect the standard of living in India?
It makes it possible for many Indians to have a high standard of living despite pay that seems very low to Americans.
What happened when Great Britain came?
It took over India and made it a British colony.
When a US company outsources a job, what happens to that job in the US?
It's gone.
How would you describe India's workforce?
Large and rapidly growing.
The poorest people in Indians live on how much money per day?
Less than $1.
The British hoped the use of English would help unite India's many ______ ______.
Linguistic groups.
Labor costs in India are among the ________ in the world.
Lowest
Why does the US attract foreign investment?
Many comparative advantages.
What happened to the brain drain with the IT revolution?
Many who had left the country returned and brought valuable business experience and special skills with them.
How many languages and dialects are spoken by people in India?
More than 1,000
How many people live in India compared to the United States?
More than 3 times as large.
What percent of Indians live in poverty?
More than one fourth.
How many Indians are Hindus?
More than three fourths.
What type of applicant gets those jobs?
Most are college graduates.
Do the Hindus and the Muslims get along?
No - they disagree on many issues, sometimes leading to violence.
India has over ____________________ people and is the ________ most populous country in the world?
One billion Second
How has the IT revolution affected women?
Opened opportunities to women with Internet cafes where they can learn and get IT jobs. Also helps women gain independence with the money they make from those jobs.
Some Indian companies grew so fast that they had to do what?
Outsource job to IT workers in China!
What is it called when a company hires someone outside the company to do work that was once done inside the company?
Outsourcing.
What else divides India's people?
Religion.
Is the number of Americans working for foreign companies rising or falling?
Rising significantly, doubling since 1987.
What is a democracy?
Rules by an elected government.
Bangalore is like what area in the US?
Silicon Valley, California.
Where is India located?
South Asia.
What extra features might an IT workplace have for its employees?
Stores, swimming pools, gyms.
What kind of American jobs are outsourced to India?
Tax return preparation, reviewing medical records, tutoring students.
Many Indians train in these fields:
Technical fields such as math, science, and engineering.
In 2003, there were more people working in India than what?
Than the entire population of the US!
As a British colony, how did that affect English in India?
The British set up schools where Indians were taught in English. The schools trained Indians to work in government jobs.
Many people around the world invest money where?
The US
What happens when foreign companies invest in the US?
The US gains jobs.
Why is India's location attractive to American companies?
The time difference of 10 hours or more means Indians are working while Americans are sleeping.
What is IT?
The use of technology to move, record and process information.
Some people returned to India and brought money with them. How did this help India's IT business?
They invested the money in new companies, which helped the Indian IT industry expand.
What did upper caste people do?
They ran Indian. They were priests and warriors.
What did lower caste people do?
They were farmers and laborers.
Why do American companies want English speaking Indians to have American accents?
To communicate better with callers and clients in the US.
Not everyone in India works in IT but the IT revolution has affected other workers in India. How?
Traffic is increasing because people come to the city for jobs; more streets and highways are being built; food is becoming more scarce and the quality of life is decreasing.
Are all Indians equal?
Under the Indian constitution, all Indians are equal; but Indians are not always treated equally in Indian society.
What do most IT workplaces look like in India?
Very nice - look like college campus; clean, modern, parklike settings.
Is the caste system changing?
Yes, some members of the lower castes are improving their position, but the caste system is still very powerful.
Is it hard to go to college in India?
Yes. In 2005, only 6% of young people in India attended college. And only a fraction of them will graduate with a degree in math, science, or engineering.
How do you end up in a given caste?
You are born into the same caste as your parents.
