The Hindu Business Line : Spotting new pastures

LIFE in Jaipur has changed for the better, feels Abha Sharma. Employment prospects are looking up in the pink city, the malls fuller with young BPO crowds, and the attitude of the youth more optimistic and confident. "Most of the people I see around have access to ATMs, they are more forward-looking, and the purchase power is evident from the fact that junior employees in the facility own the latest handsets in town," says Abha, who works with Gecis (formerly GE Capital International Services).

Three years ago the going was tough, she recounts. Abha, who then worked as an IT faculty in another company, was forced to hunt for a new job when the firm downed shutters. The search brought her to Gecis in Gurgaon.

"There were not so many opportunities in Jaipur back then and so I left for Gurgaon to join Gecis," she says. Fortunately for her, six months later, she was back in the city with Gecis, which became the first BPO entrant in Jaipur.

Despite being in the limelight for the wrong reasons of late — incidents of employee promiscuity and crime involving employees — the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is generating employment in smaller towns such as Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Mangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Pune, and offering youngsters a reason to return to local hinterland.

"It is a win-win proposition for both employer and the employee. From the company's perspective, Tier-I cities have become overcrowded, and smaller towns are an attractive alternative as they offer similar advantages as the metros. Talent is in abundance, the communication infrastructure is getting better, the real-estate facilities are world-class and the Government policies are friendly," says Sunil Mehta, Vice-President of software association Nasscom.

In fact, according to Nasscom, as much as 40 per cent of the additional employment expected to be generated in the ITES (IT-enabled services) sector in 2005-06 will be in the smaller towns. On the flip side, however, companies may find it all the more difficult to send middle and senior management officials to these locations to take charge of the new centres.

"There is a general hesitation on the part of officials to relocate themselves in smaller cities," Mehta points out.

But once this hurdle is crossed, companies realise that establishing a facility in smaller towns has its own benefits. For instance, there are not too many competing BPO players and hence the fight for talent is not as intense. "Also, as employment opportunities are quite limited in these cities, companies do not need to look at high salaries to retain employees," he says.

Youngsters, on the other hand, get their first exposure to a world-class working environment and an opportunity to enhance their employment prospects and employability.

Employees of Mphasis' BPO Services — which opened a centre in Mangalore in April 2005 — feel that BPO opportunities have given them a level-playing-field to compete with peers in metros. That and benefits such as the opportunity to earn at an early age and scope for substantial savings, clinch the deal in favour of a reverse migration back to hometowns, virtually unknown for BPO prowess till some time ago."In our opinion, employees felt a change in their lifestyle in our last centre which is Kolkata. We were one of the early movers to take up the BPO initiative in a big way and have already employed more than 1,000 people in less than a year. It certainly has increased avenues for employment," says Devashish Ghosh, Chief Operating Officer, Wipro BPO. These companies have also brought with them a new urbanised lifestyle that includes modern gyms, yoga and meditation classes. "The opportunity to travel and interact with people from various countries and cultures has also helped in developing a broader outlook," feels an employee of Mphasis BPO, which employs 150 professionals in its Mangalore centre.

In addition, BPOs have created ancillary employment opportunities in transportation and maintenance, says Amit Kumar, another Gecis employee.

"Infrastructure, however, can become an issue. But we have partnered with the Government to overcome such problems and used our scale to build our own, at times," Ashok Tyagi, Leader, Enabling Services, Gecis, says.

moumita@thehindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Spotting new pastures

Informal gyan

The fibre of `contention'

Quiz

Lessons on how the Net works

Cartoon