In the midst of the budget adjustments, the re-shaping of the NHS model, talks on immigration and the PM’s visit to India it has been an interesting few weeks for the outsourcing community.

So what do we (think we) know? The government will make the necessary cuts and suppliers will take them onboard. As it is unlikely either side wants to spend time and resources on costly legal battles suppliers are likely to get concessions from the government.

And while some suppliers like Connaugh seem to be suffering from price-pressure, most are looking at these budget cuts as an opportunity. This was certainly the position Steria’s chairman and CEO, François Enaud, expressed during a recent interview.

Enaud has good reason to be optimistic. As July turns to August, and financial results are published, many vendors are reporting encouraging figures for the first half of the year.

Indeed, Steria’s half year figures seem to have been positive across most European geographies – Spain was perhaps the exception as their results were ‘close to flat’ but given the difficulties the Spanish economies has faced in recent months, this is still good news.

While results for HCL, Wipro and Patni also showed a positive trend.

Curiously enough vendor outlook seems to be fairly optimistic while data recently published by TPI in its Q210 Index indicates a preference for a more cautious approach as there are still too many variables out there for there to be any certainty. I wonder who has got it, right?

In the meantime during his first visit to India as PM, David Cameron had his work cut out as he tried to dispel fears of curbs on IT outsourcing by the country’s government departments.

This is far from an obvious task as the question of immigration crept on to the agenda, adding to already existing unemployment concerns. A tough act: to balance public expectations, trade and international relations, and a public purse strained by a 3 year old financial crisis.

My guess is the PM’s rich brown hair won’t stay that colour for long!