BPOs have sprouted everywhere around major cities like Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kochi. Tier-II and Tier-III cities are still untapped, and the industry does not utilize the manpower and talent from these cities.
In a bid to improve the conditions in smaller towns and villages, and to increase the job opportunities in rural areas, the Government is fast-tracking the work on opening BPOs in these regions.
A budget of Rs 493 Crore has been allocated for this initiative and the Government will start accepting tenders to allocate BPO centres in rural areas. The tender process is expected to be completed soon and BPOs are expected to be operational by mid 2017.
Why does the Government want to open BPOs in rural areas?
The Government is actually working towards the development of rural areas by opening Business Process Outsourcing centres in such regions. By providing opportunities to local residents as well as nearby citizens, these companies will slowly improve the quality of life and increase connectivity.
According to the Government, the initiative will give employment to close to 1,25,000 people by opening around 200 BPO centres.
India BPO Promotion Scheme(IBPS) is being supported by the Government under the Digital India campaign. Through this scheme, the growth of rural areas in different parts of the nation can be regulated uniformly, and improve conditions in worse parts of the country.
The IT/ITeS industry offers lucrative incentives to employees and will be a good career for people of rural areas to start with. This will also incentivize residents to give importance to education in their lives.
Certain cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Jaipur has also shown tremendous increase in their workforce in Business Process Outsourcing. They provide good infrastructure, connectivity, cheaper real estate and talent for the industry to grow.
However, these cities have been growing for a lot of time, and such facilities need to be distributed to other smaller regions as well. A state cannot grow unless every part of it improves. This is something we can learn from other countries where even villages are well connected to major cities and are self-sufficient themselves.
I think working hard towards ensuring growth of smaller rural areas will also help the problem of rural to urban migration, which is very rampant at the moment. Encompassing villages around large towns and cities will help the Government in implementing the scheme.
Remember, by 2020, India will have over 900 million people of working age, and majority still reside in Rural India. If proper skill training and job opportunities are not provided, it could saddle the country with another generation of unskilled workers destined to languish in low-paying unskilled jobs.
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