Outsourcing Opposites – India Creates U.S. Jobs

And we thought Americans were losing all these jobs to India. Well, turns out India has been creating jobs for us too, right here on our soil.

In fact, through nearly 500 investment and acquisition deals worth $26.5 billion, Indian companies have created nearly 60,000 jobs in the United Sates between 2004 and 2009. That is the determination of a new report, “How America Benefits from Economic Engagement with India,” unveiled mid-June by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and sponsored by the India-US World Affairs Institute. The institute is an independent, non-profit institution aimed at promoting understanding and positive relationships between and among the peoples of India, the United States, and the world.

Not a true believer? Well, there’s a Wall Street Journal blog today about an Indian company that’s creating jobs here in the United States.

So here’s the lowdown: India’s Crompton Greaves, which designs, manufactures and markets electrical products and services related to power generation, transmission and distribution, has invested $20 million and opened a new high-tech facility in Washington, Mo. The facility is operated by Crompton Greaves’ subsidiary CG Power Systems USA Inc. (Crompton Greaves, by the way, is part of the $4 billion conglomerate, the Avantha Group, also based in India and with operations in more than 10 countries.)

So now there’s a high-tech facility in Missouri that’s owned and run by an Indian company, and this facility is expected to generate about 150 new jobs in Missouri during the next three years. In a prepared statement, Crompton Greaves’ managing director S.M. Trehan said the new U.S. facility will provide strategic opportunities for growth and expansion into new markets. And, he added, “it will help generate employment for the local people.”

Crompton Greaves also recently partnered with the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to create a new energy and smart grid research and development center. That initiative, the CG Power Center for Intelligent Power, is also expected to create jobs—in fact, more than 100 tech jobs, including 50 for scientists and engineers—in upstate New York. You can read more about that here.

The Wall Street Journal blog, authored by Arlene Chang, also mentions two other examples of Indian companies creating jobs in the United States. Indian outsourcing company Infosys, for example, set up a wholly owned unit in Dallas, Tex. late last year, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest outsourcer, expanded its operations in Cincinnati last year.

Still a Doubting Thomas? Perhaps that’s because in reality, Indian companies are making more investments and creating more jobs outside of the IT sector. In fact, the report notes that the software and IT service sector 15 percent of the total $26.5 billion investment. The investments mainly were in mining, manufacturing, and other industries, the report said. Ah well…