Compared with some of the big-league outsourcing players, Russia is a rookie. The country’s current revenue from IT outsourcing is $150 million to $200 million annually, a drop in the bucket compared with India’s yearly draw of $6 billion. But, though little more than a decade old, Russia’s outsourcing industry is learning to play to its strengths and is growing by 50% annually, analysts say.
Those strengths include low-cost and highly trained workers. The annual salary for a programmer runs about $5,000 to $9,000, which is comparable to salaries in India. The World Bank estimates that Russia has the third-highest number of scientists and engineers per capita in the world.
