Social Upgrading, a Mixed Bag: The Indian IT/ITES Sector

It is argued that developing countries can now industrialise by inserting themselves into global production networks (GPNs), rather than by building their own value chains from scratch. The economic upgrading that would follow from such a move would result in social upgrading outcomes in terms of wages, benefits, freedom of association and collective bargaining would follow. Regarding the Indian IT/ITES industry, integration into the GPN has resulted in process upgrading and benefits to employees in terms of higher salaries, better working conditions and status mobility for employees; however, issues related to job security, social protection, working hours and work–life balance show shortcomings. Moreover, given that the work outsourced to India is at the lower end of the value chain, a highly educated workforce has been relegated to mundane and dead-end jobs in terms of employment. Thus, the gains from participation in the global economy do not seem to be effectively disseminated. Regarding enabling rights, the fear of reprisals by employers has made joining trade unions ineffective in practice. Further, global framework agreements relating to offshored work, commonly negotiated between unions and large corporations have been non-starters. Nonetheless, workers exercise their agency through their micro-level acts of resistance.