Kolkata: Bengal received a positive response in the recently concluded bidding of the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS), much to the delight of the state Information Technology (IT) & Electronics department and the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), the nodal agency of the union ministry of IT and Electronics for this scheme.
Bengal has applied for as many as 500 seats, nearly an increase of 2.5 times. Last time, out of a total of 48,300 seats, the state had accounted for only 200 seats. "A company based in Krishnanagar, Nadia has availed 400 seats while another in Siliguri has applied for 100 seats," a senior official of the state IT department said.
The IBPS, envisaged under the Digital India Programme, seeks to incentivise the establishment of 48,300 seats in respect of BPO/ITES operations across the country, with a focus on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 493 crore and aims at creating capacity building in smaller cities in terms of infrastructure and manpower. Bengal has an allocation of 1,700 seats in this scheme.
Officials of STPI in Bengal feel that stringent eligibility criteria had been a major factor in Bengal's lukewarm response to the scheme. "It should be noted that most of the state's activities take place in Kolkata Metropolitan Area, where this scheme is not applicable. Hence, the response was not positive last time. However, the response has been satisfactory this time," a senior STPI official added.
A senior IT department official felt that lack of awareness regarding a financial assistance of upto Rs 1 lakh per seat, which can be sought under the scheme, had also been a reason for the poor response.
At a workshop organised by STPI in the city on April 20, state Additional Chief Secretary IT Debashis Sen had urged people working in the IT sector to spread the word around through tweets, Facebook and other social media channels. "This has contributed in the rise of seat applications," an IT official said. The state IT department has adopted a two-tier approach in the IT sector.
Apart from holding knowledge sharing workshops on emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics etc at the state level, it is also holding workshops at the district level in collaboration with Nasscom, Webel and local chambers to enable people to have an idea of the facilities offered by the state government and STPI, if somebody wants to set up a BPO or other IT start ups.