McKinsey initially focused on India, where it aggressively promoted that country’s educated, English-speaking population as a landing spot for U.S. corporations seeking cheap labor. With McKinsey’s help, India became the world’s top offshoring location, earning the nickname “Offshore-istan.” According to Anita Raghavan, who has written about the rising influence of the Indian elite, McKinsey’s success in India was due largely to two senior leaders in the firm, Rajat Gupta, the firm’s managing partner from 1994 to 2003, and Anil Kumar, who had developed the firm’s internet practice in Silicon Valley. Kumar, pompous and abrasive, was not popular in the firm, but he had a powerful ally in Gupta, who shared his desire to spur economic development in India.

McKinsey worked closely with two of India’s biggest outsourcing companies: the trade group NASSCOM; and Infosys, which specializes in information technology and business consulting. McKinsey continued to advise Infosys as recently as 2020. Offshoring hurt American workers, but it was very good for India’s economy. “Our employee stock options program created some of India’s first salaried millionaires,” Infosys boasted on its website.