Sam Pitroda

Fox News’ ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ featured technology and management guru Sam Pitroda as the man behind India’s outsourcing and technology boom in a broadcast on March 29.

“The debate over outsourcing is nothing new. But the exclusive interview with Sam Pitroda, former chief technology officer for the nation of India, is. He’s the man many credit — or blame, depending on how you look at it — for the outsourcing boom,” was how Stuart Varney, sitting in for Cavuto, described.

The interview follows closely on a report on The Wall Street Journal, which while reporting on India’s current tech boom, recalled a meeting between former General Electric chairman Jack Welch, the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his adviser Pitroda in the late 1980s. The paper said Welch had gone to make a sales pitch to India but instead Pitroda turned it around and said India wanted to sell software to him.

Varney asked Pitroda how outsourcing is “good news for American workers.”

Pitroda said outsourcing is “part and parcel” of the globalization process and it “makes American industry more competitive.” He said it is “a process which we all have to go through.” Pitroda cited the example of United Airlines which has transferred its maintenance jobs to Canada to argue companies had to outsource to stay competitive.

Varney asked if India is “about to become the service center of the world?” Pitroda said India needed to create 10 million jobs every year. He said outsourcing has created 300,000 jobs there, “almost nothing” compared to the number of jobs needed.

Varney asked, “If the situation were reversed and jobs were leaving India and coming to the United States, would you still be so keen on globalization?” Pitroda said he would be. He argued that outsourcing should be seen in terms of global economic issues, not “petty little issues like preserving 2,000 or 5,000 jobs.” Varney said, “It’s not a petty little issue if you’re the senator or congressman representing those jobs which are lost or if you’ve lost one yourself.” Pitroda said his point was that we “need to really look at the longer term perspective.”

Varney referred to Pitroda’s “star” status in India and in Europe and pointed out that “this is your first network TV interview in the U.S. even though you’ve lived here for 30 years.”

“Why do you keep such a low profile here? Do you think perhaps you’re unpopular for all this outsourcing?” he asked. Pitroda responded saying he was busy traveling and pursuing his business and other interests.