The Hindu Business Line : Rural BPOs set to grow, says Karnik

Rural bat: Mr Kiran Karnik, former Nasscom President, at the Jyotismay-2008, the first National Rural BPO Conference, organised by the Byrraju Foundation, in Hyderabad on Friday.

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, May 16 Rural BPO (business process outsourcing) companies are poised to proliferate in the country with over 50 centres coming up, majority of them in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, according to the former President of Nasscom, Mr Kiran Karnik.

Mr Karnik said, “Contrary to general perception about rural BPOs, if people are trained in these parts of the country, they have the capability to handle all tasks just like their counterparts in major cities. Some of these centres are handling even business analytics.”

Speaking at Jyotismay, the first conference on Rural BPOs hosted by the Byrraju Foundation, on Friday, Mr Karnik said, “It was high time Indian IT and BPO companies looked inward within the country and to harness the potential of local resources by providing necessary training.”

The event was attended by representatives of corporate houses, Government and non-Government organisations. The IT sector is faced with a host of many challenges such as growing competition from other countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China and they need to innovate to stay ahead. If some of the rural BPOs are anything to go by, they have the potential to make a difference, he said.

The Managing Director of Tata Business Support Services, Mr M. N. Rao, said its BPO serves some of the Tata Group companies. This has successfully evolved into a business model based on cost arbitrage. Currently, these centres employ over 1,000 people and the company is in the process of inducting 2,000 more.

“The effort is re-work on the training methodologies and help transform rural youth, who have been showing great enthusiasm. Alongside, the company is also helping spouses of employees of group to work in these BPOs,” he said.

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