According to a recent report by the information technology research and advisory firm Gartner, the economic downturn and protectionist measures of western countries notwithstanding, the market share of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will likely increase two-fold over the next couple of years.

The report said that Indian vendors in the BPO sector would experience growth, owing to factors like dependable service delivery, sustained acquisitions of Europe and North America-based shared service centers, as well as revenue growth from continental Europe by way of partnerships.

The 2008 revenue figures are expected to double by 2010 - last year, the foremost 20 India-centric BPO service providers managed $4 billion revenue, which was 5 percent of the $80-billion revenue figures of the leading 150 BPO companies of the world. As per Gartner study, the market share of India's cost-effective BPO industry would rise to 10 percent by the end of 2010. Along with having the cost advantage, the Indian BPO industry also attracts corporates because of the fairly simple regulatory norms.

Arup Roy, senior research analyst at Gartner, said: "Indian BPO providers are swiftly evolving to balance exposure to vertical industries, currency and legislation issues. Their strategies include investing in onshore and nearshore delivery, and pioneering new area of analytics services or knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), where Indian BPO players are shining!"