India’s new patent law decree, World Trade Organization agreement and potential innovations opens doors for medical, pharmaceutical and bio-tech outsourcing
Sanjay Kumar, Special Correspondent
January 01, 2005

The next Tsunami wave of outsourcing in India is ready to take off as Mr. Kamal Nath, India’s dynamic and business owner Commerce Minister took the steps to implement Product Patent law in India. The new wave of demand is even much larger and will come from America in the form of medical services help, pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies.

Many American, Canadian and European pharmaceutical companies are planning to outsource drugs, biotech and genetic engineering research, medical equipments and physical therapy services from India. India is also eyed in offering extremely cost effective high quality nursing home services for aging baby boomers in America.

The IT outsourcing took its root in nineteen eighties. American corporations slowly got convinced about the potentials of Indian software engineers. During the economic boom in late nineties, they hired imported software engineers from India under H1B visa program. During 2000-2001 recessions, the massive cost cutting efforts resulted in shifting millions of IT jobs to India.

The medical and pharmaceutical fields are behaving the same way. During the last thirty years Indian doctors, pharmacists, molecular biologists, genetic engineers and physical therapists have created an excellent impression in the minds of common Americans as well as corporate leaders in these fields. In the next few years America will go through a cost containment and reduction process to control Medicare and Medicaid as well as general medical expenses for the aging and retiring baby boomers. That is an excellent environment for medical and pharmaceutical outsourcing from India. America will gain quality service and products at very low cost.

This also has another big benefit for American companies. They can approach and market their services and products in the growing affluent middleclass market in India. 

This new Tsunami of outsourcing is more sustainable because it will be a two-way door. Information technology and Call Center Services for example is an export oriented business model in India and it does not allow major US Corporations to sell their products to common people of India. 

The new medical outsourcing business model will allow people in India to receive world-class medical services and products from America. This will also allow Americans to receive quality medical and pharmaceutical products and services at very low cost.

It is just a total win-win situation.

The Government may have understood that the gain they achieve is way more than what they can lose in implementing the product patent laws. It is good news for the entire world.