The debate on outsourcing continues to churn the minds of American executives even though it is no longer a political issue in focus. Three of the six executives that The New York Times interviewed on the question of the profits and pains of outsourcing specifically me-ntioned India and spoke of challenges they face.

Chetan Shah, executive vice president of technology at Synygy Inc., a company in Pennsylvania, said among the challenges he faced while outsourcing work in India was “wildly varying” English accents. “Everybody speaks English in the interviews but the accents can be very difficult to understand,” he said. The way his company had resolved the issue was by deploying a local human resources person to ensure there is no miscommunication.

Shah said the hardest part of setting up offices in India was finding the right candidates. Out of his company’s 500 employees 35 percent are offshore in India and Romania.

Linda C. Drake, chairwoman and founder of TCIM Services, a Delaware company, said the actual cost savings by outsourcing to India were 30 percent even though clients think they were 40 percent. She said many hidden costs such as training and retraining, learning American slang and colloquialisms take time and money.

Larry Manao, chief executive of Detto Technologies, a manufacturer in Washington, said his company outsources both technical as well as programming in India. He said he would not recommend outsourcing in the early stages of a business.

Meanwhile, Canada is emerging as a potential competitor to India in the outsourcing market. Its geographical proximity to the United States is certainly a factor. The paper said Canada’s significant growth as an outsourcing center has attracted relatively little attention. (Compiled from news dispatches by M. Chooki)