Omega Healthcare bets on Trump to bring growth
India’s large outsourcing firms may be hesitant to give a verdict on policies of US presidentelect Donald Trump when he gets into office, thanks to his anti-immigration and anti-outsourcing rhetoric that helped him win the election.
But Gopi Natarajan, chief executive of Omega Healthcare, is hopeful that Trump’s policies would increase outsourcing and offshoring to countries such as India. His belief is that Trump the president will act like a businessman who will take practical decisions that would help US corporations turn profitable and generate local jobs and improve the economy.
“I think the US economy will start picking up again despite all the unknowns of the US president-elect. He is a businessman at the end of the day, he is going to do a lot of things to benefit corporations in terms of taxes, be able to give incentives to reinvest in the economy,” says Natarajan. “Why do US companies use us? Because they want to get more profitable, Trump wants companies to make more money, and they can do it using labour arbitrage.”
Trump, during his election campaign, has threatened to impose heavier corporate taxes for companies such as IBM, which has a large base in India, while ranting against Indian firms such as TCS and HCL Technologies. He had also threatened to jail his rival Hillary Clinton if he came to power and repeal Obamacare, President Barack Obama’s health care plan which covers more Americans who are uninsured.
“I think Trump is a businessman and he knows how to create jobs (and) how to make money. America should be run like a business, it is heavily bureaucratic, he is gonna get rid of all that... absolutely there will be a boon for our business,” says Natarajan.
Analysts say it is too early to be optimistic about Trump and one should wait till he takes office and define his policies. “It is difficult to predict whether there may be a major change in regulation forcing such services to not go out of the US. The new administration may implement more local hiring in health care BPO services as well,” says Sanchit Gogia, chief executive, Greyhound Research.