‘BPO space has huge scope, needs new biz paradigm’

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Bangalore, June 9

'BPO' may be a good catch phrase, but the industry is past the era of mere offshoring; today it is all about globalisation of services and achieving domain expertise and efficiency, said Mr Pramod Bhasin, Vice-Chairman, Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies), and President and Chief Executive Officer, Genpact.

"The term 'BPO' has outlived its use. It doesn't represent the full depth and capacity of the industry and the types of services it offers. Today, it is important to build full scale services and an ecosystem around processes. The industry requires a combination of technology and process expertise. India one day will be known for delivering process and re-engineering expertise. There are unprecedented growth opportunities in this," said Mr Bhasin, at the two-day Nasscom BPO Strategy Summit held in the city on Monday.

Revenue watch

The Indian IT-BPO revenue is set to grow by 33 per cent in the fiscal year 2008. Exports are expected to cross $40 billion, while the domestic market will clock over $23 billion.

The BPO industry alone is estimated to touch $12.5 billion in 2008 and has the potential to grow five-fold by 2012. The industry today employs two million people directly and indirect job creation is seven-eight million. But shortage of adequate employable manpower is still a cause for concern. "We need about 200,000 more employable graduates in the industry. We also need to fight attrition," cautioned Mr Bhasin.

All this can be done only if the country "puts its act together in education reforms and infrastructure initiatives," urged Mr Bhasin. A private-public partnership is required to achieve this, he added.

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