8 Indian cities among world's 25 riskiest offshoring locations

New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) India may have been hailed for
long as the world's top outsourcing destination, but a new
study has named as many as eight cities in the country among
the world's 25 riskiest places for offshoring, mainly on
concerns like terrorism, pollution and geopolitical issues.

The national capital region comprising Delhi Gurgaon and
Noida has earned the dubious distinction of being the worst
offshoring destination within the country, according to a
survey in the annual Black Book of Outsourcing.

The NCR is followed by Mumbai as the second riskiest
offshoring hub within India, while Kolkata has been ranked as
least riskiest in the country.

The other domestic cities named in the global list of 25
riskiest offshoring destinations include Bangalore, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh.

In the overall global list, NCR has been ranked as sixth
most riskiest, Mumbai ninth, Chandigarh 15th, Pune 20th,
Chennai 21st, Bangalore 23rd, Hyderabad 24th and Kolkata the
25th most riskiest in the world.

Meanwhile, no Indian city has managed to find a place on
a separate list of 25 safest offshoring destinations. Both the
lists have been published in the 2009 edition of the Black
Book of Outsourcing, brought out every year by US-based
Brown-Wilson Group.

The publication is considered as a major independent
analysis and advisory research for the outsourcing players and
investors globally.

The rankings of safest and riskiest places are based on
factors like high terrorist or rebel target threats,
uncontrolled environment waste and pollution, corruption and
organised crime, unstable currency, geopolitical conditions
and unsecured networks and technology.

In terms of terrorism threats Mumbai has been ranked as
the location with the highest risk, followed by Delhi NCR and
Jerusalem in Israel.

Further, Delhi NCR has been ranked as the riskiest place
when it comes to heightening trans-national and geopolitical
concerns.

Bangalore, another leading outsourcing destination in the
country have been ranked as the riskiest place in terms of
uncontrolled environmental waste and pollution.

Overall, Colombian city Bogota has been ranked as the
most riskiest in the world, while Singapore has been named as
the safest offshoring destination.

India accounts for the maximum number of cities in the 25
riskiest places, while China and Mexico lead the tally in the
25 safest list with three cities each. There is just one
Chinese city, Dalian, among the 25 riskiest places at 12th
place.

In the safest 25 list, Singapore is followed by Dublin
(Ireland), Santiago (Chile), Krakow/Warsaw (Poland) and
Toronto/Montreal (Canada) in the top five. The three Chinese
cities — Beijing, Shenzen and Shanghai — have been ranked as
9th, 22nd and 24th safest destinations respectively.

In the riskiest 25 list, Bogota is followed by Bangkok in
Thailand, Johanesburgh in South Africa, Kuala Lumpur in
Malaysia and Kingston in Jamaica among the top five.

Besides, according to global management consulting firm
A T Kearney, India continues to be the most favoured back-
office of the world, but the Middle East and North Africa
region is slowly emerging as a promising offshoring
destination because of its large, well educated population and
proximity to Europe.

The survey also stated the global financial crisis has
slowed recent offshoring moves, the percentage of companies'
staff offshore may very well increase as a result of the
crisis. PTI MBH