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With MNCs trying to scale up their BPO operations in India, a spate of M&A deals are taking place in the sector. The BPO industry has recently been witnessing consolidation as global players are acquiring domestic BPO companies. For instance, IBM acquired Daksh Services, while Citigroup has announced it is buying out the public shareholder in eServe. The company will soon be delisting eServe from exchanges. Barclays has acquired a 50-per cent stake in Intelenet, which was owned by the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). Even Indian companies are playing the acquisition game. TCS recently acquired Phoenix Global Solutions. Indian companies have been pursuing inorganic growth to strengthen their presence in certain verticals, service lines or geographies. Wipro, who had acquired Spectramind, Nervewire and AMS' energy practice, has been more aggressive compared to others. With instances like TCS bidding for Triaton, and Satyam scouting for European acquisition, inorganic activity should see further momentum. There is also strong growth witnessed in the BPO sector. Among the listed Indian companies, MsourcE grew at a scorching pace of 100 per cent in FY04 to $40 million and Wipro Spectramind grew by 130 per cent year-on-year to $94 million. There is the fear that outsourcing may slow down in the lead up to the US elections. However, many analysts feel that BPOs will be far more sensitive to backlash against outsourcing. Although the backlash has subsided to some extent over the last couple of months, it remains a key threat to the sector going forward. Recently, Wipro highlighted that it had hired around 300 employees in the US. The company believes that global hiring will help in alleviating these concerns to some extent. Faster decision cycles and large outsourcing deals are expected to lead to strong growth post the US elections. It is also expected that | 
