Government on fast-track to open rural BPOs

With a Budget outlay of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion), the government would soon start the tendering process of allocating rural business process outsourcing centres, sources in the know said. These rural BPOs are expected to start by June 2017.

According to officials, around 190 new BPOs with a combined seating capacity of 125,000 employees (per shift) would come up in the rural areas.

The rural BPO initiative is a flagship programme of the government under the Digital India scheme. “India BPO Promotion Scheme to incentivise setting up of BPO/ITeS (IT-enabled services) operations across the country, particularly in digitally deficit areas, for creating employment opportunities via information technology and balanced growth of IT/ITeS sector in each state,” said a senior official.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently said the government had approved IBPS for promoting of BPO/ITeS operations across the country with an outlay of Rs 493 crore (Rs 4.39 billion).

According to a Nasscom report, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Jaipur along with Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Indore are fast emerging as new destinations for business process management, another name for BPO.

“These cities have made their way to the BPM sector map owing to their excellent infrastructure, including cheaper real estate, cost competitiveness, availability of talent and conducive business environment,” it said.

The BPM sector is now $23.3 billion, up from $3.2 billion a decade ago.

It employs 956,000 people, of which around 186,000 have been added over the past four years, according to Nasscom.

Seven states, including West Bengal, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh, have proposed their own model for setting up broadband networks under the Centre’s ambitious National Optical Fibre Network project.

Government officials said other than Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, a chunk of call centres would come up in Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

“A major part of this scheme will help generate more jobs in the northeastern region. In the first phase itself, around 30,000 new jobs would be created,” the official added.

Image: Employees at a call centre provide service support to customers in Siliguri. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters. The image is used for representational purpose only.