For a long time, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has taken a back seat to the more lucrative IT sector. However, it seems that in the wake of the recession, BPO is pushing the ailing IT sector back to normalcy.

Recession induced cost cutting is encouraging companies across the globe to reevaluate outsourcing IT and a range of business process.  As part of this activity firms are evaluating offshore vendors, in some cases for the first time.

According to CEO of iGate Phaneesh Murthy, there are a number of patterns emerging in the outsourcing scene. First off, the U.S. financial services firms have come to the close of the completion of their mergers and acquisitions work, and subsequently are beginning to make major decisions. This is the good news, says Murthy in an online report by The Hindu Business Line.

A second observed trend is that any recovery in the outsourcing industry is bound to be driven by BPO. As the need to restructure costs looms, a huge wave of BPO work is expected to make its way to India. However, the bad news is that there is no indication if the operations work is directed to land in captives - owned by clients - or with third-party sellers. Most often, most IT work goes to third parties.

Murthy added in his statement that the most surprising trend that is observable under current market conditions is that iGate added four new clients who are offshorers for the first time.