Globalisation of Services Production Economic and Social Upgrading in Support-Service Industry Catering to International ICT-ITES Firms in Mumbai

The international outsourcing and offshoring of IT enabled services is deemed to be the second wave in globalisation of business activities, which has benefitted several developing nations in South (east) Asia. The arrival of international ICT-ITES firms in South Asian countries is considered to have induced several direct and indirect business and employment opportunities. The key indirect beneficiaries are in the support-service segments catering to the security, housekeeping and cab service needs of the ICT-ITES firms. While the existing literature provides an elaborate account of the actors directly involved in the services production (IT firms, knowledge workers, etc.), it falls short of offering a similar account for the indirectly-linked support-service industry. Limited information is available on who are the key persons and business organisations (indirectly) benefitting from the opportunities in the support-service industry. Further, at organisational level, it is still not clear which are the prerequisites to qualify for the service contracts of ICT-ITES firms and how local entrepreneurs perceive the business opportunities of serving ICTITES clients. At worker’s level, there exists a knowledge gap on the quality of indirect jobs created locally and whether and how the ICT-ITES firms have brought about transformations (in terms of social upgrading) in the local labour market of the support service workers.