The last five years have seen vast development in Knowledge Parks with infrastructure of global standards, in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Gurgaon. Multi-tenanted 'intelligent' buildings, built-to-suit facilities, sprawling campuses are tailor-made to suit customer requirements. International Long Distance, National Long Distance and Basic Telephone services have been opened up for free competition. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have been granted licenses freely to establish their own international gateways and submarine cable landing stations. Internet telephony too has been encouraged. Tax holidays and concessions for companies involved in scientific R&D are just some of the steps to create a pro-growth environment.

Ernst and Young ranks India No.3 after Japan and Korea in the Asia Pacific Region in Biotechnology. There are five biotech parks in India. Phase 1 of a 106-acre biotech cluster in Karnataka called Bangalore Helix with Special Economic Zone status has been completed at Electronic City, Bangalore. It will house the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, and the Centre for Human Genetics which will move there. The cream of the biotech companies in the growing pharma and agri-biotech sector will be invited to set up shop there.

India - The Trust Factor

Proactive measures are being taken to ensure that India is viewed as a destination for trustworthy outsourcing. Initiatives from individual companies to associations like NASSCOM (The National Association of Software Services Companies) and the Indian government,are working together to build trust in Brand India as the world's leading outsourcing center and a growing KPO hub.

Data Privacy and Information Security Initiatives

NASSCOM collaborates with the government to ensure that India's data privacy legislation is aligned with those of the U.S. It also intends to have the security practices of all its 860 member companies audited by international accounting firms. The government has also taken initiatives to focus on the issues of data privacy, information security and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Indian companies are taking serious measures to protect the information of their customers. Common security procedures in companies ensure that employee’s swipe identity cards through readers have their bags and pockets searched, deposit cell phones, PDAs, pens and laptops in lockers, and shred notes of client conversations after the shift ends.

Employee Scrutiny

Companies have set up advanced systems to monitor phone conversations, guard data, and watch every move of their employees. Measures may also include biometric security checks such as retina scans and palm reading, to identify employees against their records. Employee background checks are a regular feature of the recruitment process. These measures work well towards alleviating concerns of privacy and information security of customers wishing to source services of Indian KPO vendors.

Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai have been found to be low-risk outsourcing locations,