Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) schemes have been successfully operating in India for more than 15 years. Recently, the swift development of living standards and wages in the country’s larger cities has put a damper on the profit margin outsourcing companies were able to achieve. While BPO providers in larger cities have put hiring on hold, more cost-effective rural settings are expanding their operations.  But what started out as a profit-oriented endeavour was quickly embraced by the non-profit sector – with overwhelming success.

Through the often extensive training provided by the newly-founded rural BPO centres, even high-school drop outs are given the opportunity of a job with prospects of moving up the career ladder. While rural dwellers are often forced to leave their home town in order to look for employment opportunities, the possibility of receiving training in fields like English language skills, BPO processes and soft skills is now empowering townspeople to return to their homes and families. While urban centres continue to improve the quality standards of highly-specialized services offered to international customers, rural BPO units have taken over operations that require less extensive knowledge and language skills, like data entry or science-based topics. 

BPO centres now operating in rural areas from Rajasthan to Tamil Nadu have been able to bring rural populations into labour that had not dreamt of earning wages ranging from Rs. 4000-7000 a month. Especially women benefit from the new development. Centres like the ones run by NGO Source For Change in Bagar, Rajasthan employ women only, in many cases earning them higher wages than their husbands. While the instant caused some difficulties along the way, BPO work has been an empowering experience for the all-female employees from an area that has one of the lowest school attendance rates for girls in the whole of India.

Other problems that BPO providers encounter are mainly related to the severe lack of infrastructure that is still plaguing many rural areas all over the country. To ensure high-speed internet connectivity and a reliable power supply many Business Process outsourcers decide to collaborate with local partners who work on providing the companies with the necessary prerequisites for taking up business. RuralShores who operate in Tamil Nadu have chosen this strategy of bringing physical infrastructure to the areas in question while at the same time creating contracts for local businesses.

While there are around 200 rural Business Process Outsourcing centres operating out of rural India at the moments, Bangalore-based RuralShores alone is plans to open another 100 centres all over the country in the next three years. Adventity BPO India Pvt. Ltd, Tata Business Support Services and HDFC Bank are also looking to expand their rural operations.