The United States Agency for International Affairs or USAID, in a controversial move, has decided to fund the development of Sri Lanka’s, as well as Armenia’s offshore outsourcing industry.

Expectations were high for the end of quarter results of India’s number two outsourcer, Infosys (NASDAQ:INFY). As the first of its peers to release quarterly results, the outsourcing company is responsible for setting the tone for India’s outsourcing sector. It was therefore a big disappointment when Infosys announced a 2.6% drop in profit for the period of April to June 2010.

Contrary to the slowdown projected for IT outsourcing growth, in just a span of a few days, three big outsourcing companies won IT outsourcing contracts all from different regions in the world.

IT outsourcing growth is on the rebound but it is unlikely that it will ever be the same again. After the big boom that the industry experienced a few years ago before the recession, analysts estimate that this is unlikely to happen again.

A number of outsourcing companies have sold or are now selling their subsidiaries after less than stellar performance these past few months. In what had been previously hailed as the need for diversity in outsourcing offerings, some companies are now realizing that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

The Big Blue is making the state of Indiana and its residents see red. In a series of events that began with the signing of a very profitable outsourcing deal between the state of Indiana and technology outsourcing company IBM, the deal has now ended up with IBM (NYSE:IBM) filing a countersuit against Indiana late last week in an affair that began as, well, somewhat good, to bad and now, to worse.

What have certainly abounded this first quarter are the strategic partnerships that have been formed among different types of companies across the industry. Efforts to diversify their product offerings are at the root of this trend as competition for outsourcing contracts increases.