STPI to re-launch BPO promotion scheme after tweaking guidelines

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has tweaked the guidelines of the BPO Promotion Scheme and would re-launch the same soon, an official said here on Thursday.

The scheme, which was launched one and a half years back with the objective to spread the IT and software industry to smaller towns from tier I cities, has two parts - India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) and North East BPO Promotion Scheme.

"We have tweaked the guidelines of the scheme. The incentives were based on capex (capital expenditure) but the IT is operating on opex (operational expenses) model," STPI Director General Omkar Rai said on the sidelines of an event organised by the CII here.

"We have included the opex in the scheme. The scheme has been made easier for the entrepreneurs and bidders. The scheme would be re-launched soon."

Responding to a poser on what prompted the autonomous society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to bring changes in the guidelines, he said the STPI had received inputs from industry, adding that the players were facing difficulties with some of the features of the guideline.

The STPI Director General said the scheme was launched with an outlay of Rs 550 crore and had envisaged allocating close to 54,000 seats (number of professionals).

Rai said the scheme was one and a half years old and around 25 per cent of the Rs 550 crore outlay had been spent so far.

"So far, about 18,000 seats have been allocated and 62 new locations have emerged under the IBPS. Under the NE scheme, 1600 seats have been allocated and seven new locations in the north east came on the IT map," he added.

"We expect with the changed guideline, more entrepreneurs and bidders would show interest. We are targeting smaller towns," he said.

Rai said the exports of software and software services from India were to the tune of $117 billion in 2016-17.

"Exports from STPIs contribute around 55 per cent of the total exports while the rest is from SEZs."

He, however, expected the exports from STPIs to grow by 8-10 per cent year-on-year.

-- IANS

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