Sitting before neat rows of computer consoles in weekend casuals in a tall building located at city's Worli business area, a group of chattering youngsters could easily be mistaken for call centre professionals.     

A closer look at the computer screens of the youngsters at Crest Animation Studios would, however, reveal that they are working on complex computer animated designs that are set to find their way to the US, Canada and Europe.

Crest Animation Studios' globe trotting CEO A.K. Madhavan is quite confident that animation will be one of the key growth areas in the second wave of outsourcing that India is witnessing.

The company's animated programmes such as "Jakes! The Adventures of Piggley Winks", "Kids Ten Commandments", and "Pet Alien" find their way to networks like PBS in the US, BBC in Britain, TVO in Ontario, Canada, and ABC in Australia.

"In the second wave of outsourcing, the animation industry in India will be the main beneficiary. We have all the ingredients to become a global hub in this segment," Madhavan told IANS.

"Just a couple of years ago, I had to personally go to all the big studios in the US and Europe and ask for jobs. Today, even if my salesman goes to the US, the president of Warner Brothers will be too glad to meet him," he added.

Experts say the second wave of outsourcing, which involves firms representing sectors like automobile, financial services, telecom, animation and insurance shipping high-end jobs to India, will be stronger than its first phase.

"The first wave of outsourcing was mainly low-end jobs that required a vast pool of manpower base at a cheaper cost," said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).   

"In the second wave of outsourcing, more sophisticated works are being sent to India that require domain expertise," he added.

"Alcatel has set up a research and development base in India for its 4G telecom technology. Although this technology is not meant for the Indian market, they are making use of the abundant talent base in this particular domain. 
        
"Similarly, many companies are increasingly transferring high-end projects to India to save cost back home. Most of these projects are meant for their overseas operations."

According to Nasscom, services provided by Indian vendors have expanded from routine call centre operations to high-value services such as equity research and investment research support, financial data mining and risk assessment.

The market size of a second wave of outsourcing business in India, which includes biotechnology, legal support, and design and development for automotive industry, may rise to a staggering $15.5 billion by 2010 up from $1.2 billion now.

In a tie-up that is likely to see more and more Hollywood movies being sent to India for post-production work, a local visual effects veteran Madhu Sudhan has tied up with Barrie Osborne, to set up an outsourcing studio in Chennai.

Osborne is the legendary producer of blockbusters like "The Lord of the Rings", "The Matrix" and "Face-Off".

"The studio will become operational in three to four months' time. Even before the studio's becoming operational, I have already got two high-profile Hollywood film projects," said Madhu Sudhan.

"Osborne was my client in 2001 and he became my business partner after three years. I think this speaks volumes of the skills that are available here to undertake high quality technology works."

--Indo-Asian News Service