But also, according to others who were part of the study, called ‘Business Transformation Outsourcing: 3rd Generation Outsourcing’, now is time for India to tackle social issues head on.

Says Raman Roy, founder, Quattro and member of Assocham's Committee on BPO: “Whether you treat cultural differences as a plus-point or a negative depends on your viewpoint but can you or I wipe it (Godhra incident) out? We can’t. This report brings forth certain things that are on the mind of potential customers and we need to tell them how to manage business continuity under these circumstances. Though not show stoppers, these issues need to be tackled.”

One of the many ways in which cultural diversity — and it's frequent negative fallout —can be handled is by spreading the risk to several geographies outside India, according to another company that was actually interviewed for this report. Says Sabyasachi Satyaprasad, research director, neoIT: “It is not that there are specific cultural issues going against India, but at the same time, we must remember that India is competing against countries that face none of these cultural problems.”

“What we recommend to potential clients is a fundamentally strong economy and a healthy social environment not bothered by war or internal disturbances. It is necessary for us to point out the risks so that there can be a strategy to mitigate them,” he says.