India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) launched by the Centre is all set to give a fillip to investments in business process operations/management sector in Visakhapatnam.
The offer of Rs.1 lakh for every job created for new businesses in the sector to those who get registered under the scheme is considered quite encouraging.
The city has robust infrastructure for BPO/BPM sector due to its strategic location and connectivity in the State attracting investments by HSBC, Concentrix, WNS, Patra and others. Availability of skilled manpower has become a big boon for development of BPOs.
IT and ITES from Visakhapatnam, which were estimated to have a turnover of Rs. 1,700 crore during 2014-15, have registered a total business of Rs.2,000 crore during last fiscal.
The Visakhapatnam IT Association has prepared a vision to raise the turnover to Rs. 10,000 crore in the next five years taking the total employment to one lakh. Of the 20,000 employees in the IT and ITES, the majority are employed in the BPO/BPM sector, according to VITA president Ravi Eswarpu.
“Among tier-two cities, Visakhapatnam has become the hot favourite for BPOs to cater to the needs of clients in the United States and Europe,” Software Technology Parks of India Joint Director M.P. Dubey told The Hindu .
Slew of incentives
Under the Indian BPO Promotion Scheme launched recently under Digital India programme by the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and IT, a slew of incentives are offered, including Rs.1 lakh for every job created towards viability gap funding.
Mr. Dubey said there is a good response for new business proposals in the BPO/BPM sector to avail incentives such as viability gap funding. STPI, an autonomous society of DeitY has been designated as the nodal agency for implementation of IBPS.
For Andhra Pradesh, 2,200-seater capacity addition has been sanctioned to avail benefits under IBPS. “Instead of sanctioning Rs. 22 crore for 2,200-seater, we need to increase it to 5,000-seater to create more employment in places like Visakhapatnam in Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh,” Rushikonda IT Association vice-president Naresh Kumar said.
