Manila, Philippines No. 2 in Top Outsourcing Destinations List

Manila, Philippines outsourcing sector retains the number two spot in the 2015 Tholons global Top Outsourcing Destinations list, edging out Mumbai and breaking an otherwise India-dominated top six. Bangalore led the pack at number one, followed by Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Cebu City ranked at no. 8, followed by Krakow, Poland and Shanghai, China.

According to Tholons, Manila, Philippines BPO (business process outsourcing) has dethroned Mumbai as the call center capital of the world in terms of revenues and headcount. Multinational firms like HSBC, IBM, DELL and JPMorgan Chase have captive centers all over the country, and many other MNCs are continuing to establish new sites or expand operations.

One of the reasons is cheaper office rent. Global property firm Colliers said prime office space in the central business districts go for two-thirds of the cost of office space in Mumbai, Bangkok, Taipei and Seoul. Other attractions are low attrition, modest wage inflation, and a relatively large talent pool of English-speaking workers with neutral accents. The country’s cultural compatibility with the West also lures North American locators to set up BPO centers here.

Today, the country’s information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector employs more than one million workers, and industry revenues are expected to reach $25 billion by 2016. IT-BPO currently represents about 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is expected to increase in the next few years.

Besides the strong performance of Philippines BPO, the steady inflow of remittances from Filipinos working abroad and increased consumer spending have helped the Philippines become one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia in recent years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects a GDP increase of 6.7 percent in 2015, up from 6.1 percent in 2014.