Government to expand BPO promotion scheme for rural youth to 1 lakh seats

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is planning to expand its India BPO Promotion Scheme to 1 lakh seats from current 48,000 seats. It will also set up 5th and India’s largest National data centre (NDC) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with capacity of 5 lakh virtual servers. NDCs host government websites, services and apps, are currently operational at four locations Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bhubaneswar. These initiatives will help to create new job opportunities and also ensure that people in smaller towns find employment closer home.

India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS)

The scheme was approved under Digital India Programme to incentivize BPO/IT- ITES operations sector in the country. It was launched in 2014. The scheme aims to incentivize establishment of BPO firms and their extension to Tier II and Tier III cities (as per census 2011) to provide employment, distributed across various states in proportion to population of state with financial support in form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society of MeitY is nodal implementing agency of the scheme. It will be implemented to incentivize setting up of BPO/ITES operations across the country (excluding certain cities and north eastern states which are covered separately under North-East BPO Promotion Scheme).
Objectives of IBPS

• Create employment opportunities for the youth, by promoting IT/ITES industry particularly by setting up BPO/ITES operations.
• Promotion of investment in IT/ITES sector in order to expand base of IT Industry and secure balanced regional growth.

Incentives: Under this scheme, financial support up to 50% of expenditure towards Capital Expenditure (Capex) and/or Operational Expenditure (Opex) is provided subject to upper limit of Rs. 1 Lakh/seat. Moreover, special incentives is given for employing women and persons with disability (PwDs), employment generation beyond target and wider dispersal within state. It also gives special consideration for hilly areas and rural areas and also to local entrepreneurs.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2018