For Britain, the common perception is that the country is losing jobs to India. According to major new research however, this is a myth. Many small firms are actually creating thousands of new jobs on UK soil by exporting their services to the fast-growing Asian market. Research data shows that UK exports of goods and services grew as much as 21.3 percent in the last year, well ahead of Japan, Italy and France. This year, after Vodafone’s more than pounds 5.5 billion investment in Hutchison Essar, the Indian mobile phone giant, the UK is on its way to becoming India’s largest investor. Close examination of the business of both countries indicates that small firms across all sectors are taking advantage of the opportunities.

Some companies are exporting anything from high-end automotive products, while others are offering to stage murder mystery weekend packages, providing a quirky appeal to a market that gravitates toward all things British. It is research by the Work Foundation, the organization that focuses on workplace issues, that has revealed that India poses more of an opportunity than a threat. The firm’s new report, Offshoring, A Threat For the UK’s Knowledge Jobs? presents the conclusion that jobs are not being lost in the UK as a result of outsourcing to India. According to this report, only 5.5 percent of all jobs lost across Europe in the first quarter of 2007 were the result of offshoring activities. Job opportunities in call centers in Europe, where the perception is that the majority of jobs are going to offshore places like India, have actually gone up, rather than down. The report also highlights that the UK had service imports from India at pounds1,247m.

These government figures published in 2006 indicate that these imports are not significantly higher than UK service exports to India at pounds 1,102m. At the same time, the UK government is actively encouraging UK small firms to become involved in growing Asian markets, especially India. The government is implementing and using specially designed schemes to provide financial assistance for companies to go on trade missions to India. The ultimate conclusion from this research indicates that there is more to the trade balance with India than the popular perception of call center closures. As a result of this push, many UK small firms are taking advantage of the vast expanse of opportunities there, to the benefit of the UK and its workers.