India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

US Republican Presidential contender Mitt Romney's financial firm, Bain Capital, invested in a series of companies that relocated jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like India and China, according to a report. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that during the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the U.S. to overseas call centers and factories making computer components. The report emerges as Romney in recent months has repeatedly pledged he would protect American employment by getting tough on China , the Washington Post reports. Romney's political opponents have tried to tie him to the practice of outsourcing American jobs. These political attacks have often focused on Bain's involvement in specific business deals that resulted in job losses. But now an examination of securities filings shows the extent of Bain's investment in firms that specialized in helping other companies move or expand operations overseas. According to the paper, while Bain played several roles in helping outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field. The paper said that in addition to taking an interest in companies that specialized in outsourcing services, Bain also invested in firms that moved or expanded their own operations outside of the U.S. One of those was a California bicycle manufacturer called GT Bicycle Inc. that Bain bought in 1993. The growing company relied on Asian labor, according to SEC filings. According to the paper, Bain's foray into outsourcing began in 1993 when the firm took a stake in Corporate Software Inc., or CSI, after helping to finance a 93 million dollar buyout of the firm. Romney ran the firm with a proprietor's zeal and attention until he left it in 1999.

Romney's Bain Capital invested in firms that relocated jobs to India, China