Satyam takes BPO to grassroots via GramIT

Satyam Computers, one of the prominent offshoots of global business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, has taken the lead to spread the spirit of its core business via GramIT, a new address for low-end BPO.

The GramITs (village IT centres) will have access to the rural human resources at the lowest possible cost. Ramalinga Raju, chairman, Satyam Computer, promises to set up such facilities across 150 villages in the state over a period of time.

Set up at Jalli Kakinada, a remote village in East Godavari district, at a cost of around Rs 30 lakh, the first GramIT is a 50-seater capacity facility with a computer network functioning on the bandwidth offered by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Satyam has also become the first customer of GramIT to outsource its internal processes concerning HR, such as book keeping, computerisation of bio-datas of IT professionals and so on.

It offers services to other corporates in similar areas, blending the corporate social responsibility into a business model.

Satyam's corporate responsibility arm, Byrraju Foundation, has trained 100 youth in English and computer skills to make them eligible to work in this village ITeS centre.

Each of these rural IT professionals, who will have to work eight hours a day, will get a minimum monthly remuneration of Rs 2,500.

"They also have an opportunity to earn up to Rs 1,000 more based on their performance," P K Madhav, lead partner of Byrraju Foundation, told Business Standard.

The GramITs are expected to be incorporated under the Mutually-aided Co-operative Societies Act and act as franchisees of Byrraju Foundation. According to Madhav, the foundation will ensure work throughout the year.

But how will the facility cope with the frequent power interruptions, something that's normal in our villages?

"They will come and finish their work whenever electricity is available. This flexibility is not there in towns and cities where the distance between the workplace and home is usually more," Madhav said.

Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, at the launch function of GramIT here on Wednesday, expressed his happiness over the IT sector gearing up to provide employment in rural areas too.