Question : BPO Promotion Scheme

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state: -

(a) whether the Government has started Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) promotion scheme under the Digital India programme and if so, the salient features thereof;
(b) whether the Government has taken a decision to expand BPO units scheme to rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of BPO schemes launched in the rural areas including Shamili region; and
(d) the incentives being given by the Government for these BPOs along with the details thereof?

(a) to (d): Under Digital India programme, the Government has launched India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) for creation of employment opportunities and promotion of BPO/ITES operations across the country particularly in small cities/towns including rural areas with an outlay of Rs. 493 crore. Around 48,300 BPO/ITES seats have been distributed across State(s)/UT(s) based on population percentage as per Census 2011, excluding metro cities along with their urban agglomeration viz. Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR, Pune, and North East Region (NER). For the State of Uttar Pradesh (including Shamili region) 8,800 seats have been allocated.

The scheme provides capital support along with several special incentives like encouraging employment to women and physically disabled persons, setting up operations at locations other than State capital, promoting local entrepreneurs, providing upto Rs. 1 lakh/seat in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF), etc. The selection of eligible companies to set up BPO/ITES operations under IBPS is done through online bidding process. Till now about 70 companies have been declared successful to setup BPO/ITES operations for ~15,000 seats distributed around 60 locations covering 19 States and 2 UTs. Further, details of the scheme are available at www.meity.gov.in/ibps and https://ibps.stpi.in

Government has also launched North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) under Digital India Programme to incentivize setting up of 5,000 seats BPO/ITES Operations in North East Region (NER) for creation of employment opportunities for the youth and growth of IT-ITES Industry in the region with an outlay of Rs. 50 crore. NEBPS provides similar financial support as IBPS. Till now, 1,460 seats have been allocated to successful bidders for setting up BPO/ITES operations under NEBPS covering 5 States of NER. Further details of the scheme are available at www.meity.gov.in/nebps
*******