Setting up a BPO in Rural Areas

I had a long time back heard of some BPO operations in Rural areas of Kerala. Today I came across this news item of Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) inaugrating it's BPO operations called Uday at it's Mithapur plant in Gujarat. This is one good means of generating employment in the rural areas and bridging the Digital Divide. This is a Win-Win situation for the Owners of the operations and the Rural Society. The advantages of the operations are obvious:-

• Labour at low cost
• Low attrition rate
• Low operating costs

But the key is the availability of infrastructure. If the Govt. or some other private organizations take up the task of setting up infrastructure many such business can flourish.

SEZ's Proving their Worth

Read this article about the Apache SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in Tada, Nellore. It's yet another story proving that setting up small/medium scale industry is the way towards rural development. It talks about the increasing incomes that unskilled/semi-skilled people around the region are getting because of being employed in this Sports Shoe manufacturing unit (Interesting to note is that the shoe's that are made here are sold under the "Adidas" brand). A salary of Rs 3500 a month in the villages is not less. This is also stopping the urban migration to some extent. It seems that the workers over here have also stated buying motor-cycles. That's an indication of improved lifestyle.