Govt to explore scheme for women to run BPOs from home

The India BPO promotion scheme has already created employment for 10,297 persons

As it looks to create digital inclusion and equitable growth, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) will explore a mechanism wherein women, primarily housewives, can be empowered to run business process outsourcing (BPO) services from their homes.

The Ministry is expected to give some kind of financial support to such women. The India BPO promotion scheme, which was conceived in 2014, with an aim to spread jobs across small towns, has already created employment for 10,297 persons.

"We have to be innovative to revolutionize this BPO movement. I have directed my department to explore and come out with schemes which allows women to carry out BPO work from home. Like a homegrown movement for BPO promotion. A group of 100 women can come together and work under one roof," Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He further added newer ways should be looked at to make it convenient for women workforce to participate and contribute in country's growth.

The scheme with an outlay of about Rs 493 crore provides special incentives of up to Rs 1 lakh per seat in the form of viability gap funding. About 48,300 seats had been planned across states and UTs based on population percentage and so far a total 35,160 seats have already been allocated after five rounds of bidding.

"BPO is becoming a platform for digital aspiration in smaller towns, as part of this scheme. BPOs in smaller cities and towns will be the biggest accelerator of digital empowerment," Prasad said.

Asked about the timeframe for allotting all the seats available under the scheme, the Minister said, in six months, it should be completed.

After four rounds of open bidding, 18,160 seats had been allocated to 87 companies across 60 locations in 19 states. Of these, 76 units have begun operations on 13,480 seats distributed across 48 locations and has resulted in initial employment for 10,297 people.

In the fifth round that closed last month, 68 companies submitted bids for 17,000 seats, and these are currently under evaluation.

Under another similar scheme for Northeast region, which entails another 5,000 seats, 1,630 seats have been allocated to 11 companies across five states. Of these, seven units have started operations on 900 seats providing direct employment to 723 people.