January 2004

The VA Industry in India

On a social-work mission to India, ex-President Bill Clinton made a point to visit Anjar and Bhuj—they had borne the brunt of the killer earthquake in Gujarat two years ago. With most buildings yet to be rebuilt, the innovative Anjari businessmen operate from freight containers, which they have modified as temporary offices. Among them are a few Virtual Assistants who provide typing, word processing, printing and photocopying services.

In Bombay, 800 km. away, freelance accountants use Tally, a popular software like QuickBooks, to maintain the accounts of numerous shopkeepers on retainer basis. Down South in Madurai, Vasanthi Lajapathi adds to her family’s income by doing French-to-English translation. In a neighboring cyber cafe, the garrulous owner clad in silken ‘lungi’ like a towel around his waist, does E-mail correspondence and chatting on behalf of elderly people whose children are settled in the Middle East. In the capital New Delhi in the North, Jagmohan Saluja does Internet research and employs several operators to enter data outsourced by various Government departments. And in Siliguri in the East, Deepali Sinha manages a team of medical transcriptionists.

Throughout India, there are thousands of similar small businesses which address the local needs. Almost all of them are unaware about their ‘VA’ identity as it is known in the Western world. They call themselves ‘Service Contractors’ and would not be bothered to use the Internet as a business tool.

On the other hand, the Yellow Pages carry scores of advertisements for web designing, search engine registration and optimization, customized software, multimedia presentation, medical and legal transcription, and the training for each of them. While most companies offering these services have a web presence, rarely are they found on any international VA forum. Why? is a mystery, but probably one reason could be that they perceive the VA business essentially centered upon one person, and hence, rather small for them to hob-nob in an industry association!

Several U.S. multinationals have reduced processing costs by setting up a back-office in India. Many more avail of business process outsourcing services provided by well-known Indian companies, especially those registered on the NYSE. Following a similar logic, numerous small businesses outsource to VAs in India. Naturally their main concern is to find reliable and trustworthy partners for long-term business.

Hence, the VA industry in India needs to co-operate on a common platform with three immediate objectives:

•To enhance reliability, trustworthiness and ethical behavior among organizations and individuals practicing a Virtual Assistance business;

•To promote the concept of outsourcing to Virtual Assistants among local businesses and industry; and

•To interact with the Indian Government to enhance the contribution of VA services to the national economy.