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New BPOs open way jobs in Kolkata
By siliconindia staff writer
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Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 20:30 IST
KOLKATA: West Bengal is the Country's latest Information technology (IT) hub. The IT department of the state says at least 13,000 new jobs would be created in the IT enabled services (ITES) and Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) segment in 2005. This would be almost three times the number currently working in these sectors in the state.
"Right now we have 24,000 professional working in IT and IT enabled services in Bengal. Out of that 4,700 are in the BPO segment. Our estimate is that we have a vision document, where in our share in the national revenue is only 5.1 per cent and we propose to take it 15 per cent in IT services and 20 per cent in IT-enable services of which BPO is an important part by 2010," said G.D.Gautama, Information Technology Secretary of West Bengal.
West Bengal right now has 47 ITES firms, employing around 4,500 people. Although the IT sector employs 24,000 professionals in the state, 19,500 are engaged in software development. Top companies like Vishnu Solutions, Dash Solutions and BNKe Solutions have been doing brisk business in state, known for it's skilled workforce.
"In fact, I feel in that ITES (IT enabled services) industry more than 30-35 per cent people working in other parts of the country, belong to this state. They went out because there were not too many opportunities in the state. In case, they want to come back, there are opportunities here," said BNKe Solutions' Bagadia.
The call center employees said BPO industry has opened new job opportunities in the state.
"The scope of getting jobs by young graduates was very limited earlier. But with IT sector and call centres opening up the opportuniteis have increased. And side by side, they get the work experience along with their education, which I think going ahead will count a lot," said Jaya Thakuria, a call center executive.
According to government projection India's software export is likely to reach 50 billion dollar mark by 2008.
U.S. clients account for more than 60 percent of India's software exports which bank on a huge, growing army of low-cost engineers and English-speaking knowledge workers.
India's exports from software and allied services rose 29 percent to about 7.5 billion dollars in the year to March 2002, and the industry expects 30 percent growth in the current year.
This is well below the heady rates of more than 50 percent that India saw in the late 1990s. But the nation is banking on future growth, especially in telecoms-driven industries like call centres and back-office accounting, to sustain high growth.
The IT industry accounts for two percent of India's gross domestic product and about 14 percent of export earnings, and the share was expected to rise in the coming years.