Government clears Rs 493 crore outlay to promote BPOs

NEW DELHI: The government has approved India BPO Promotion Scheme ( IBPS) for promoting of BPO/ITeS operations across the country with an outlay of about Rs 493 crore during the remaining period of 12th Five Year Plan, Parliament was informed today.

About 48,300 seats have been planned with distribution across states and union territories based on population percentage as per Census 2011, Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

In addition, 5,000 seats have been planned for the states of North East Region under the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) which stands notified, he added.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of seats planned at 8,800, followed by Bihar (4,600), Maharashtra (3,900) and West Bengal (3,400).

The Minister said under the IBPS, entrepreneurs or interested entities are expected to satisfy themselves regarding availability of requisite infrastructure, including broadband connectivity in the proposed areas, for setting up the BPO/ITeS operations.

"The IBPS, inter-alia, involves two stage approach, initially, Expression of Interest (EoI) is proposed to be invited from the interested companies to assess the market potential and interest at various locations across states," he said.

Then bids would be invited from eligible applicant companies through a Request For Proposal (RFP), he added.