Project GaamZan- BPO

RURAL BPO- Beginning A New Era of Freedom

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“ENTERPRENEURSHIP

DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT”


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Winter Training Project Report

on

“RURAL BPO”

Beginning a new Era of Freedom

ENTERPRENUER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR THE 3RD

SEMESTER OF MBA

ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India)

ACADEMIC SESSION

(2009-2011)

Under the guidance of: Submitted by:

Team SKYE Shabir Muzafar Bhat Project Coordinator MBA- III Semester

Mercy Corps Islamic University of

Science & Technology


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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work entitled “Rural BPO GAAMZAN- Beginning A

New Era of Freedom” submitted to the ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY, is a record of an original work done by me under the guidance of

Team SKYE , MERCY CORPS and this project work has not performed the basis for the

award of any Degree or diploma/ associate ship/fellowship and similar project if any.

Shabir Muzafar Bhat

MBA- III Semester

Roll No. 51

Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST)


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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project Work titled “RURAL BPO - GAAMZAN” is a

bonafide work of SHABIR MUZAFAR BHAT Enroll No: 51 an intern at MERCY CORPS

carried out in partial fulfillment for the award of degree of Masters In Business

Administration (MBA) Of Islamic University Of Science & Technology under my

guidance. This project work is original and not submitted earlier for the award of any

degree / diploma or associate ship of any other University / Institution.

Signature:

Team SKYE Project Coordinator

Mercy Corps

Place : __________

Date : __________


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“It is not possible to prepare a project report without the assistance & encouragement of other

people. This one is certainly no exception.”

On the very outset of this report, I would like to extend my sincere & heartfelt obligation

towards all the personages who have helped me in this endeavor. Without their active guidance,

help, cooperation & encouragement, I would not have made headway in the project. First and

foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my project guide/mentor, Team SKYE. I

was privileged to experience a sustained enthusiastic and involved interest from their side. This

fuelled my enthusiasm even further and encouraged me to boldly step into what was a totally dark

and unexplored expanse before me.

We also owe deep sense of gratitude to our HOD, Dr. Mir Parvez and our beloved School of

Business Studies, Islamic University of Science and Technology for molding us into real

management students.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Ms. Afshan Gazi (Research Associate) for helping

me in every sphere of research during the project. I extend my gratitude to MERCY CORPS & my

University- Islamic University of Science & Technology for giving me this opportunity.

Any omission in this brief acknowledgement does not mean lack of gratitude.

Thanking You

SKYE Team


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

PREFACE 8

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Business Process Outsourcing 12

1.2 Rural Telecenters 14

1.3 Khidmat Centers – Movement in J&K 15

1.4 Rural BPO: a viable option? 16

1.5 AEGIS- A Gaint Leap in Kashmir 17

1.6 Project Overview 18

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research Methodology 20

2.2 Research/Survey Brief 23

2.2.1 Secondary Research 23

2.2.2 Primary Research 24

2.3 Constraints faced during Survey 28

CHAPTER 3: STUDY & SURVEY FINDINGS

3.1 Study Findings 29

3.2 Learning‟s from Surveys for Rural BPO Feasibility 36


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CHAPTER 4 : ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS

4.1 Rural BPO Business Model 38

4.2 Type of BPO Activities suitable for Rural BPOs 39

4.3 Rural BPO Cost and Returns: A Break Even analysis 40

4.4 Availability of Clients for Rural BPO 46

4.5 SWOT Analysis 47

CHAPTER 5 : SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 The Road Ahead 49

5.2 Role of State Govt. to encourage Rural BPO 51

CONCLUSION

LIMITATIONS

BIBILOGRAPHY & REFERENCES

BOOKS 54

WEBSITES 54

ANNEXURE

Questionnaire 1 : BPO & Khidmat Centers 57

Questionnaire 2: Govt./ Private Organisations 59

Questionnaire 3: General Population 61


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PREFACE

Services globalization has turned the world into a global village, enabling the seamless delivery of

IT and Business Processes across time zone. As a result, India has become the most favored

destination for outsourcing operations and more so due to its skilled manpower, cost advantage and

appropriate infrastructure. These ITO/BPO centers are located mostly in urban India and they

epitomize the best of the four core evaluation criteria that companies look to optimize: cost, control,

quality and risk.

In rural India, the entrepreneurship scenario is slowly changing. With the penetration of networks of

Telecenters/Service Center Agency have started to pop up; some focusing on information sharing

among community, and others into learning, training, knowledge sharing and commercial services

for rural community.

Today, with urban BPO players looking for alternatives to cut their operations cost to sustain

operations in stiff competition, and on other side with the growing numbers of educated/computer

literates coming up in rural areas, it provides opportunities to leverage ITES for creating BPO jobs at

rural level; thus enhancing livelihood opportunities for community members and help reversing the

trend of migration to villages. Whether such BPO initiative is feasible in Kashmir?

It is in this light that, I, the student of Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST) with

Mercy Corps has taken up the current research work for SKYE (Startup Kashmir Youth

Entrepreneurship) to study and explore the feasibility and challenges for rural BPO “GAAMZAN”

for undertaking outsourcing business. The objective of this study is to understand, analyze and scope


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the feasibility parameters for providing BPO Services in terms of social, economic and institutional

factors. Also the report explores the type of BPO activities suitable for rural BPO. This report, with

the feasibility parameters identified and scoped, and type of rural BPO activities that can be taken up

- will go a long way to serve as a guideline as-well-as in taking informed decisions by those

organizations/entrepreneurs, who wish to commence BPO initiatives in rural locations. The report

also suggests the future research work that can be taken up on rural BPO services.

We thank all the participants who took time from their schedules and shared their perspectives on the

industry as-well-as the respondents on their views and valuable inputs, and also the research team

who persistently worked to bring out this report. We are confident that this report will help growing

entrepreneurs, who are looking forward for such rural BPO initiatives to help enhance income

generation and livelihood opportunities for community members and village entrepreneurs as-well-

as impact the rural economy and hence well-being of the community.

Shabir Muzafar

MBA (SBS, IUST)


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Information Technology and Communication facilitates global connectivity, providing new

ways of creating and delivering products and services on a global scale. In fact, it has transformed

the world into a global village. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has been a very striking

example of new opportunities. The need to outsource back-end task to reduce operational costs have

led to mushrooming of BPO outfits and Call centers in the developing countries with cheap labour

and reasonably good telecom infrastructure. India is not untouched by this wave of business

operations. India, with its cost and time differential advantages, backed by an educated workforce,

could commit quality of service. India is fast emerging as a preferred destination for outsourcing.

Urban India has exploited opportunities originating from cross-border trade in a substantial way and

has set-up BPO centers in metros and big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and

Chennai etc. With urban BPO players looking for alternatives to cut their operations cost to sustain

operations in stiff competition, and on other side with the growing numbers of educated/computer

literates coming up in rural areas, it provides opportunities to setup a rural BPO for creating jobs at

rural level as-well-as business opportunities; thus enhancing livelihood opportunities for community

members and help reversing the trend of migration to villages. To exploit rural potentials,

organizations like DesiCrew, HarVa initiated rural BPO ventures. But these rural units are only an

extension of their parent urban units in rural areas and supporting them by transferring the low-end

jobs that requires low skill-set, which is easily available in rural areas.

Kashmir, at urban level had remained untapped in BPO sector till 2008. It got its first urban

BPO Aegis, a part of Essar Group with most of its activities based on local & domestic clients . And

the rural Kashmir has not yet been tapped or involved in the outsourcing business, which can help

leverage the cost benefit due to the availability of low-cost talent pool (computer literates and

graduates) and cheap real estate/rentals in rural areas as compared to cities.


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I, the student of Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST) with Mercy Corps has

taken up the current research work for SKYE (Startup Kashmir Youth Entrepreneurship) to study

and explore the feasibility and challenges for rural BPO “GAAMZAN” for undertaking outsourcing

business. The objective of this study is to understand, analyze and scope the feasibility parameters

for providing BPO Services in terms of social, economic and institutional factors. Also the report

explores the type of BPO activities suitable for rural BPO. As per the scope of the study and taking

into consideration capabilities in rural Kashmir, it needed a detailed study comprising of literature

review, comprehensive primary research/survey on urban BPO, rural Telecenters/ Khidmat Centers,

General Population, skill-set availability at village level, jobs suitable for rural BPOs, challenges and

opportunities for rural BPO, and on other relevant areas. As per the research methodology drawn, the

planned activities were carried out for the above to meet the research objectives defined. Based on

the above mentioned survey/research, the findings and learning helped to identify and scope the

feasibility parameters for providing BPO services in terms of social, economic and institutional

factors. The feasibility parameters identified for rural BPO were grouped under – rural dynamics,

rural talent pool, rural infrastructure, and government policies.

Shabir Muzafar

MBA III Semester


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CHAPTER -1 INTRODUCTION

Gartner defines BPO as “the delegation of one or more IT-intensive business processes to

external provider that, in turn, owns, administrates and manages the selected processes based

on defined and measurable performance metrics”.

1.1 BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING:

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a subset of outsourcing that involves

the contracting/delegation of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions

(or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated

with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain. In

the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business

functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which

includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that

is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

Outsourcing is now considered as a strategic tool that helps companies concentrate on their

core competence and delegate other peripheral activities to an external agency that specializes in that

task. Delegating responsibilities to people who are specialists or to the region which can do it at a

„comparative cost advantage‟ is the logic of outsourcing business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contracting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Cola

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_office

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_centre_(business)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_outsourcing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearshoring


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Apart from „cost advantage’ other benefits of BPO are as follows:

Benefits of BPO

Increase productivity

Cut operational costs

Provide better service

Save costs

Improved accountability

The BPO boom seems to be increasing everyday with more and more companies deciding to

follow the race, making conditions really viable for a positive growth in the BPO industry, by

moving to rural areas initiating the concept of Rural BPO, to cater the needs of rural people viz-a-viz

catering the needs of their clients domestic as well as overseas.

TIER I, TIER II AND TIER III CITIES:

Metros in India, Delhi, Mumbai are basically regarded as TIER-I cities, whereas relatively

smaller ones are TIER-II cities like Gurgaon, Pune etc. and the smaller ones are considered to be

TIER-III cities. J&K, Srinagar can be considered as Tier III city.


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1.1 Rural Telecenters

The telecenter/information-kiosk is an entrepreneur owned rural service unit rendering

variety of services using the convergence of computing, telecom and media. Designing

telecenters/khidmat centers as delivery points using the concept of „shared services‟ brings down the

cost; khidmat centers become delivery points for multiple services at a location. At the most basic

level, telecenters/khidmat centers focus on improving the livelihood of individuals. Slowly, networks

of telecenters have started to crop up all over rural India. Some are focused on information sharing

among community, and others into learning, training, knowledge sharing and commercial services

for rural community. There are some who have bundled up community services – like telemedicine,

rural banking, micro-finance, e-governance – benefiting community for empowerment and

development.


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1.2 KHIDMAT CENTRE – Telecenter movement in J&K

A Dream project launched in J&K State, few years back, J&K Bank has entered into a

„Service Center Agency‟ (SCA) tie-up with J&K government for setting up 1109 IT Kiosks in the

state. The Kiosks, set up on a Franchiser-Franchisee basis, acts as Common Service Centers (CSC)

for delivery of G2C (Government to Customer) and B2C (Business to Customer) services including

financial services in all the rural areas of the state. The centers are set here in J&K under name

“KHIDMAT CENTRE” and run by Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) identified through a

comprehensive selection process made by J&K Bank.

The Common Services Centres Scheme

• Part of the National e-Governance Plan

• Budgetary allocation of over Rs.27,000 crores for enabling e-

Governance Services to the doorstep of rural citizens

• National e-Governance Plan envisages a three pillar model:

• State Data Centres Back-end

• State Wide Area Networks Delivery Channel

• Common Services Centres Front-end

• 100,000 Common Services Centres to be rolled out by 2008-2011

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bn3GlwgMSeI/S3qkURFNy-I/AAAAAAAAAC8/VEQf6NeADjU/s1600-h/043582.jpg


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About the Scheme

• 100,000 Common Services Centers in Rural India.

• One CSC to service a cluster of 6 villages – 6,00,000 village networked

• CSCs enabled with appropriate IT Infrastructure and Connectivity

• Focus on Rural Entrepreneurship &Market Mechanisms

• Focus on Private Sector services for quick sustainability

• CSCs to be positioned as the retail extension outlets in rural India

• No Capital Subsidy but Guaranteed Revenue Support from State/Centre

1.3 Rural BPO: a viable option?

Rural BPO carry out BPO services at rural end to add value to the outsourcing business as

well as to the community. In order to beat the competition, industry majors are shifting their base to

tier II and tier III cities. These cities provide substantial gains on infrastructure, transport and real

estate availability. Similarly, on the parallel grounds organizations can extend operational flexibility

by relocating the BPO services to rural locations. The setting up of rural BPO in villages can result

in the development of rural infrastructure, employment and livelihood opportunities, increase in

standard of living and enhancement of rural economy at the village level. Transfer of BPO units to

rural areas make tremendous business sense and has significant social connotations involved with it.

Kashmir is struggling to have its own private sector developed. Seeing the sensitivity of the state the

rural BPO is a bold initiative to start from somewhere to reach somewhere. It will be of great interest

to eradicate unemployment and viz-a-viz create great opportunity for entrepreneurship.


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1.4 AEGIS - The Gaint Leap in Kashmir

Aegis, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company under the Essar Group umbrella,

commenced its operations in Kashmir recently. Post-militancy, this is the first time that a venture of

such magnitude has been undertaken in the Valley.

Set up at the Rangrate IT Park near Srinagar, the BPO centre boasts of the latest technology

and offers world-class facilities in line with other Aegis centres across the globe, company president

Sudhir Agarwal said.

He said that the company has recruited 200 employees from the Valley to fulfill its

commitment of providing employment to the local youth.

Agarwal said that Aegis Srinagar has already tied up with Vodafone. "The Srinagar office

will serve domestic clients, including telecom service providers and financial institutions," said the

Aegis president, who provides strategic advice and guidance to teams across centres in India,

Philippines, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka.

He said that Aegis Srinagar will offer direct and indirect employment opportunities to over

2,000 youths from the Valley once it becomes fully operational. Lauding Aegis state president

Zahoor Malik, Agarwal said that he had ensured the "seamless introduction" of Essar Group's

ventures in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik, in turn, praised the state government for helping Essar establish the centre. "The

government provided Aegis Limited with the space it required. From the foundation stone-laying by

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to helping us commence operations, the state government has always

been by our side," he said.

Noting that the state-of-the-art Aegis BPO centre was spread over an area of 22,000 sq ft, he

said that local youths were recruited not only for the BPO centre but also departments pertaining to

housekeeping, transport, centre development and maintenance.

Elaborating on the technical aspects of the BPO, Aegis senior vice-president Faisal Durani

said that the capacity of the Srinagar centre is being enhanced from 250 to 500 seats.

Customer service executives and call centre agents are inducted into the BPO centre only

after being trained extensively for a month, he added.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aegis-launches-bpo-operations-in-valley

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aegis-launches-bpo-operations-in-valley


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1.5 PROJECT OVERVIEW

This entrepreneurship proposal is to set-up a rural BPO unit “GAAMZAN” in Ganderbal/

HMT/ Pampore areas of Kashmir Valley. Considering that the prime driver for basic BPO services is

cost advantage, envisaging a model where rural infrastructure is used and process agents are also

drawn from rural youth is one of the most appropriate ways of presenting such a low cost advantage

to the customers who are wiling to outsource their processes.

So far KASHMIR has got only one BPO Centre by the name AEGIS which is a multinational

company. Kashmir also has got KHIDMAT CENTRES – a J&K Bank Initiative. Thus the

opportunity for setting up a single or multiple rural BPO units is eminent. This provides a huge

entrepreneurship opportunity both in terms of investment, profit and growth.

A typical BPO set-up requires following:

1. Building with few rooms etc.

2. Computer and Server set-up including various software easily available.

3. Broadband Connectivity, preferably a leased line or wireless connections.

4. At least one IT technician/engineer for each shift.

5. Administrator

6. An Accountant

7. Educated workforce young people ready to work in shifts.

8. In most cases, English language skills, at least good reading and writing skills in English

language.


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Considering Kashmir, the above facilities are already available. The most important aspects

to develop would be the connectivity and local manpower capabilities. Though connectivity can be

established with the help of telecom service providers in short time, the capacity building of the

manpower is a development process and would take some time. Considering that language skills are

also to be developed, a reasonable estimate of 9 months to 12 months should be taken for

development of manpower to be ready to work as process agents in the BPO unit.

Considering the above, it is proposed to set-up a “GAAMZAN” BPO unit in above

mentioned areas on the basis of a properly designed Project Implementation Plan. As a public-

private partnership model, Department of Commerce and Industries will be approached.

The objective of the GAAMZAN in the valley will be –

1. Identifying problem areas and bottlenecks in implementation, management of rural BPO unit,

and networking with partners.

2. Documenting the processes and start-up plan for rural BPO.

3. Understanding the type of rural BPO activities and quality parameters.

4. Creating job opportunities for rural educated youths and help develop their potentiality for

better earning and sustained livelihood.

5. Understanding the contribution to socio-economic development in rural areas.


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CHAPTER - 2 RESEARCH METHODOLGY

Owing to the large-scale availability of educated-unemployed rural/urban talent,

telecenters/Khidmat Centers entrepreneurs in villages and improving telecom infrastructure, rural

locations present a very strong case for establishing BPO centers. Though these parameters place a

convincing scenario but the absence of adequate faith amongst entrepreneurs to invest in rural

Kashmir remains the main concern because of the various prominent reasons, sensitivity of Political

Status remains prominent. This has led rural youth‟s large-scale migration to outside state for better

opportunities, causing substantial brain-drain in the Kashmir Valley. Result – the villages have not

been able to keep pace with the urban development and continue to remain backward. I, with, Mercy

Corps have taken up the current study to understand, analyze and help scoping the feasibility

parameters for setting up a Rural BPO “GAAMZAN” providing Rural BPO Services.


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2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

As per the scope of the study and taking into consideration the telecenters capabilities in rural

India, the Rural BPO Research project needed a detailed study comprising of literature review,

comprehensive primary and secondary research on BPOs, Rural Telecenters, Village households and

statistics, Skill-set availability at village level, Jobs suitable for rural BPOs, challenges and

opportunities for rural BPO, and other relevant areas.

Following research methodology was adopted for the above study and to meet the research

objectives, which consisted of ten major stages.

1) Plan the research/survey activities

2) Schedule the survey activities

3) Design Questionnaire(s) for each survey

4) Execution of research/survey activities

(a) Secondary Research

(b) Primary Research

- General Population Survey

- Telecenter/ Khidmat Center Owners Survey

- Govt./ Private Organisations Survey

- Urban BPO Survey

(Questionnaires designed for each survey & Administered on target groups using sampling plan to

collect responses)

5) Survey Data Entry for analysis

6) Summarize the Findings - for rural BPO “GAAMZAN”

7) Analyze the Research/Survey Data

8) Report Preparation based on the analyzed data


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2.1.1 Project Plan

For the above study, a strategic plan including detailed project schedule was prepared for

timely deployment of necessary resources to complete the study properly. This includes primary

research, secondary research, data entry and analysis, dummy model and scoping the feasibility

parameters - for providing rural BPO services.

Project Duration: 01 January 2011 to 10 February 2011 (approx. 5 weeks)

Survey Location:

(a) For Urban BPO – Rangreth, Srinagar (Personal Visit),

(b) For Village level comprehensive survey (refer 4(b) above) – All 10 Districts of Kashmir

Valley.


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2.2 RESEARCH/SURVEY BRIEF

A brief on the research/survey activities carried out for the project work is as presented

below.

2.2.1 SECONDARY RESEARCH

Secondary research was carried out comprising of profound understanding of the past work

done in the field of Business outsourcing to figure out the issues related to BPO. Secondary research

sources included various research papers, study reports, periodicals and articles available on the

internet and libraries. Though there was hardly any reference to rural BPO feasibility, but the search

has helped in generating an overview of the prospective strengths and opportunities in the filed of

BPO business, in general, and to identify certain governing factors which promote the BPO activities

and the fundamentals of BPO business dynamics. Following are the secondary sources that were

referred for the study:

Research studies on BPO sector by

Nasscom Survey for Rural BPO

Shroff‟s Foundation Trust, Setting a Rural BPO in Vadodra

HarVa- Rural BPO

B2R

Desicrew

JK IT policy

Guidelines for Vernacular Call Centres, DoT India.

Rural BPO guidelines from GOI(Government of India)


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2.2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH

The primary research was carried out for the study purpose in following target segments to

collect the desired data and facts, by a team of students who administered the semi-structured

questionnaires (designed) on the following target groups, as per the sampling plan that was defined:

Rural & Urban Households

Telecenter/ Khidmat Centre Owners

Urban BPO organizations

Table 2.2: Survey details

Survey Target Group Sample Size

Urban BPO Top Operational Management

Executives of BPO 1 BPO organization (Aegis)

Khidmat/ Telecentres Owners of Khidmat Centre 10 Khidmat/Telecentres

General Population

Survey Mostly Computer Literate persons 100 People

Govt./Private

Departments Top Operational Executives 10 Departments/Organisations

The surveys were aimed for necessary data collection from different groups to understand

their perspective and views on rural BPO feasibility and on current status and problems.

The surveys were supplemented with the information acquired through personal interviews

with the employees of urban BPO units and rural telecenter owners.

Data collected was entered into the statistical software (MS-Excel) for further analysis.


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About the surveys:

A brief on the above mentioned four surveys that were conducted for the project (9 rural

districts and one in urban location) is as follows:-

1) General Population Survey

An extensive survey was conducted in various areas that included civil lines and downtown

of the Srinagar District, the valley’s Summer Capital (J&K) and the rest of the 9 rural districts.

The survey helped to collect data/information on followings:

Attitude and perception about BPO.

Willingness of the local educated youth to take upon the BPO activities.

Availability of skilled educated youth, etc.

Problems faced by general populace.

IT penetration in the village

Surveyed people were selected through random sampling technique with ample representation

of 10 people from each district out of 10 districts.

Sampling plan has been given below:

Table 2.2 (b): Sampling Plan (General Population Survey)

Target group Mainly Rural people from 9 districts and urban from 1 district

Location All 10 districts of Kashmir, living in proper districts

Sample size 10 people from each district, 100 people in General


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2.1 PIE CHARTS OBTAINED FROM THE SURVEYED DATA

YES75%

NO7%

N/A18%

COMPUTER SKILLS

YES58%

NO24%

N/A18%

BPO EMPLOYMENT

DATA WORK6% RURAL ISSUES

13%

EDUCATION36%

B- PRACTICES21%

ALL24%

HELPLINE ?

FREQUENTLY12%

OCCASIONALY22%

RARELY33%

NEVER33%

VISIT KC/BPO


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2) Khidmat Centre / Rural Telecentre Survey

Ten Khidmat Centres located in the vicinity of Kashmir and networked to the JK Bank SCA

(Service Centre Agency) under National E-governance programme were randomly selected for the

study.

Survey questionnaires were administered on Khidmat/Telecenter owners for understanding:

Their willingness quotient to become part of Khidmat Centre.

Their present level of business.

Availability of Skill Set.

Problems faced in dispensing telecenter services

3) Urban BPO survey

Urban BPO questionnaire was targeted at 1 BPO organization (AEGIS), the only BPO in the

Kashmir Valley located at Rangreth Srinagar, for the following purpose:

To map the BPO jobs and related activities/processes.

To understand the overall BPO business dynamics.

BPO jobs and Skills-set/Training requirements.

Opinion/views on rural BPO and challenges

4) Govt./Private Departments Survey

The survey was aimed on members of various government departments like Non-

digitized Banks and Telecom, to collect data/information on:

IT penetration in the Organisations.

Availability of potential clients.

Study of Processes related to the BPO.


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2.3 Constraints faced during Survey

1) During field survey period, the Survey Team had to face the following major challenges.

Some major constraints/obstacles that were faced have been mentioned below:

Bad Weather condition.

Political Conditions in the Valley.

Transportation problem faced to reach distant Telecenters.

Took time to locate/contact the computer literates for their valuable responses.

2) During the survey period for Govt. Departments, the survey team had to wait for days to

get their permission based on the designed questionnaire. However, once the contact was established

it helped the team on valuable inputs for the research.

Due to above problems the survey period got extended to some extent, but it did not affect

much on other dependent activities which had to be rescheduled to complete the project almost on

time.


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CHAPTER – 3: STUDY & SURVEY FINDINGS

This chapter contains the outcome of literature reviews and the findings of the surveys

carried out. The findings are based on discussions with people in the BPO industry, an appraisal of

research studies on the BPO sector and the results of a primary survey conducted in various districts

of Kashmir Valley. From the efforts made to understand the BPO activities and business dynamics,

in urban BPO and Khidmat Centers, an attempt is made to identify feasibility of rural BPO viz-a-viz

jobs that match the skill-sets of rural manpower. The study also deals availability of

infrastructure/awareness at rural level and the employability of rural youth for BPO work. The study

has helped to identify the feasibility parameters for scoping, which is discussed in next chapter.

Kashmir as an outsourcing destination

India has attracted a good share of the global BPO business pie. The reasons, which

transpired India to a BPO business hub, included its tremendous cost effective labor force,

infrastructural developments, improved telecom facilities and its geographical location which

provides it strategic edge over other outsourcing locations. It is now turn that Kashmir finds its place

on the map of rural outsourcing and become a Tier III destination for domestic clients.

3.2 Study Findings

The findings based on secondary research on BPO sector and primary surveys conducted in various

districts (Govt. Departments, General Population, & Khidmat Centers) and on urban BPO have been

summarized below. It starts with the research findings based on literature reviews followed by

findings from primary surveys. At the end of the chapter, the knowledge and information gathered

from above sources is employed to identify the feasibility parameters controlling rural BPO business

viability.


Page 30

3.2.1 India has an edge in Outsourcing, so does Kashmir?

India has emerged as a strong contender as most favored location for setting up of BPO business.

There are various drivers, which favor India and help achieve the top position on worldwide BPO

platform. The major drivers for BPO business have been summarized and presented below.

Talent Pool

Kashmir Valley houses a large pool of talented people; hundreds of graduates, postgraduates and

engineers produced every year which can act as talent pool for BPO centers. Kashmir has got over

60% of youth aged 18-25 Computer skills. Outsourcing is driven by the cost competitiveness offered

by the low cost talent pool and infrastructure.

Infrastructure and Policies

The infrastructure and telecom facilities offered in various districts of Kashmir are comparative

to national standards. JK with its new IT policy can fuel the spread of IT based service providers.

Linguistic advantage

Kashmir hosts a large pool of skilled workers who are proficient in Hindi and English language

as found in survey on Urban BPO and the JK Bank CSE. Language proficiency is one of the factors

that attract Tier I & Tier II companies to look for outsourcing their business activities/operations to

Rural BPO in Valley.

The BPO business is based on following key inputs:

Infrastructure

Manpower

Technology

Investment

All these inputs influence the outsourcing business in their own capacity. In order to further

estimate the impact of each driver on the business dynamics, discussions were carried out with


Page 31

industry people and extensive secondary research and surveys were undertaken for urban BPO and

rural location having telecenter units.

3.2.2 Urban BPO Scenario

The urban BPO AEGIS centers get a host of outsourced jobs from domestic as well as

national clients. Vodafone Uttar Pradesh (East) being the main telecom client for the AEGIS.

In an endeavor to have a little understanding of the urban BPO and the Khidmat / Telecenter

business dynamics, the lone urban BPO unit at Rangreth, Sringar and the Corporate Office of J&K

Bank Ltd. were selected for survey. Semi structured questionnaire were used and

interview/discussions held with key persons of middle or top management. Brief on the findings

from surveyed BPO and Organisation J&K Bank (Khidmat Center Initiative) is presented below at

Table 3.1.

Table 3.2 Facts about BPO and Khidmat Centers

Area of Operation

BPO

Both Voice and non voice

based BPO operations

KHIDMAT CENTER

At the highest Level (J&K Bank)

No. of BPO/ Telecentre

Surveyed 1 1

Average Number of

Employees 140

110 Centers (1 Khidmat Center per 6

Village & 2 employees per Center)

Client Location Domestic & National E-Governance Area

Location Srinagar 9 Districts of Kashmir

Segment Catered Call Centre & Back end

Operations

Almost all E-governance Operations

including Payment of Bills,

Retailership

Basic Skills at Entry

Level

Graduate with good

computational, English

comprehension and computer

skills

10+2 must with basic Computer

Skills


Page 32

3.2.3 Training & Skill Development

The quality of service depends on the type of training the employee receives and subsequently

how he implements his knowledge while working. Training is the integral part of the BPO

organizations and Telecenters. Following are the salient findings related to BPO training viz-a-viz

Telecenter Training. Most of the big companies have training department as a part of the human

resource department and onsite training is preferred than sending their agents to an external center.

Some companies prefer to outsource training to coaching/training companies.

Outsourced training is conducted in two ways:

Outsourced-onsite Training: In this the trainers are provided by the training companies but

the training sessions are conducted within the premises of the call center.

Complete Outsourcing: Outsourcing training completely means that a training agency is

hired and either the recruited agents would be sent to the agency for further grooming or the

agency trains and then company hires the candidates.

The nature and kind of training depends on the BPO activities undertaken by the organisation. For

example, the training given by voice based BPO units is different from the training imparted by non-

voice outsourcing unit. During survey it was observed that call center & domestic training could be

divided into two types.

a) Pre process training (17-day Module)

--- Induction

---Voice accent

--- Mother tongue neutralization

b) On process training (Separate Module)

--- Theoretical knowledge of the process and product specifically.

--- Mock calls


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In case of Telecenters or Khidmat Center, again two types of training are given to the potential

owners:

a) Probation/ Orientation Training (2 months approx.)

- Basic Computer Skills

- Knowledge of Internet

- Know how of things to do.

b) Specific Training

- Related to E-governance

- Related to Services

- Bank Documentation

3.2.4 Challenges faced by the BPO/ Khidmat Center units (surveyed)

Following are the challenges that are being experienced by the surveyed BPO/ Telecenter

organizations and are the possible threats for the outsourcing industry.

- Political Situation e.g. frequent strikes.

- Sensitivity of the State and the perception of clients outside.

- Awareness among people.

- Lacking Practical approach and Exposure of the trainees.

- Business Risk Involved.


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3.2.5 (a) BPO/ Tele Center Jobs – currently undertaken in Valley

1. Back Office Operations

With digitization, large numbers of organizations convert their hardcopy data into coded

form. Also, banks, insurance and aviation sector have large-scale data entry and revenue accounting

work. For such back office accounting operations, paper documents / raw data are sent to remote

locations, which are used for data entry and necessary reconciliation. The prime criterion for such

projects is quality of organizational processes, availability of abundant manpower and ability to

dedicate resources to client needs. Back office services include the following:

Data processing and digitization: converting text & images to electronic form, creating text

from other forms, simple data entry

Finance and Accounting: book-keeping, billing & receivables, payables, claims processing.

Legal: transcription, deposition typing, data processing, research, collections.

Credit card processing

Internet surfing and searching

2. Call Centers

A typical call center is a service center (for customers), which has adequate telecom

facilities, trained counselors, access to wide databases, internet and other on-line information

support system. It operates to provide services to customers, round the clock and year round. The

dedicated telecommunication links connect a remote call center to the parent organization through

voice links and on line computer database access. Amongst others, the service application areas,

which may be addressed by call center include:

Sales support

Lead generation and follow-up

Tele-Marketing

Complaint handling


Page 35

3.2.5 (b) JOBS UNDERTAKEN UNDER SCE KHIDMAT CENTER

1. GOVERNMENT SERVICES –G2C

- Land Records

- Birth/Death Certificates Grievances

- Form downloads and submissions

- Bill payments –electricity.

- Bus pass, Railway tickets, Passport, etc.

2. BUSINESS TO BUSINESS – B2B/G2B

- Market Research, Surveys, Data Collection

- Rural BPO Services (Data Collection, Digitalization, etc.)

- Business to Consumer Services - B2C

- IT services (Printing, Scanning, DTP, web surfing, etc.)

- Banking and Financial Services (Loans, Deposits, etc.)

- Retail Sales & Referrals (Farm Inputs, Vehicles, etc.)

- Education Services (Notes, Results, Notifications etc.)


Page 36

3.3 Learning from Surveys for Rural BPO Feasibility

The understanding of available literature, Desk work and discussions with BPO and Khidmat

Center owners helped us understand that there is no single model which could lead to rural BPO

success. Different rural BPO organizations have tried to develop their own business models based on

their requirements and ability. Also some have succeeded in rendering outsourcing services by

locating in rural suburbs. Therefore it is necessary to have an inspired thinking which could lead to

sustainable rural BPO operations.

The main four inputs for BPO business have been summarized earlier as; Infrastructure,

Manpower, Technology and Investment. The cost of technology (hardware and communication) is

not location sensitive; however the availability of technology could be important. The extensive

research through secondary sources and in-depth surveys helped us to identify and select key factors

which could affect the location suitability for BPO business.

A computer with software and Internet connectivity is a sufficient and necessary condition to

access and deliver desired services for BPO. But in the context of outsourcing as a business and

investment opportunity that would transform rural economy and its possible contribution to long-

term growth and development; the factors and variables that are relevant for any other sector would

be relevant to outsourcing business in rural areas as well.

Hence parameters are viewed on a larger context of maximum contribution to rural

community, livelihood opportunities, rural economy, institutional factors and in general to rural

transformation. After having examined all the possible factors influencing rural BPO feasibility,

from the study, the necessary ones were identified for scoping feasibility for providing BPO services

involving rural telecenters and have been grouped into five broad parameter heads, as mentioned

below:-


Page 37

Rural Dynamics:

Rural Youth Population

Entrepreneurship in community

Telecenters/Cyber-cafes existence

Rural Talent Pool:

Professional/Technical Institutes

Computer Literates

Graduates/Post-graduates

Rural Infrastructure:

Rural Electrification

Rural Telephone Connection

Electricity Availability Hours

Road Condition & Transportation facility

Rural Telecommunication Infrastructure:

Broadband Connectivity

Existence of ISDN facility

Rural Orderliness:

Bandh/Strike prone

Natural Disaster (Type & Severity)

Govt. Policies:

Incentives and subsidies specific to IT sector


Page 38

CHAPTER 4 : ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS

4.1 Rural BPO Business Model

RURAL KASHMIR

ISSUES

DATA WORK

BUSINESS

EDUCATION

Call Center

RURAL BPO

DOMESTIC CLIENTS


Page 39

4.2 Type of BPO activities suitable for Rural BPOs

The whole project would start in phases and will cover Two phases initially:

Table 4.1: Skill Set according to Activity

PHASE I PHASE II PHASE III

Low skill Jobs (LSJ) Medium Skill Jobs (MSJ) High Skill Jobs (HSJ)

Digitalization/Data Entry Transcription Content Generation

Transaction Processing Translation Social Media Monitoring

Email Support /Live Chat

support

Secondary Research

Vernacular Call Center Local English Call Center


Page 40

4.2.1 SERVICES TO BE OFFERED

Data Publishing - ( Phase I)

DATA ENTRY DATA PROCESSING DATA CONVERSION

i. Data Entry Services i. Data Processing i. File conversion

ii. Online Data Entry Services ii. Forms Processing ii. Document Digitizing

iii. Offline Data Entry Services iii. Word Formatting

iv. Image Data Entry Services iv. Book Conversion

v. Book Data Entry Services

vi. Data Capture Services

vii. Data Extraction Services

viii. Document Management Systems

ix. Copy Paste Services

DOCUMENT SCANNING

i. Graphical Images

ii. Hand Written Notes

iii. On-demand Customized Services

PHASE II

WEB RESEARCH CALL CENTER

i. Web Research i. Vernacular Services

ii. Data Mining ii. High Quality

iii. Internet Search, Market Research, Survey, Analysis

iv. Web search and online Form Entry and web-to-web entry

v. Online research and create a Database into Microsoft Office


Page 41

4.3 GAAMZAN” BPO Cost and Returns: A Break Even Analysis

The rural BPO model should be designed in a manner that it should be able to generate

enough revenues for the entrepreneur and thus manage its operational cost. Thus to test the business

possibility of a BPO centre a break even analysis is undertaken, considering a 20 heads rural BPO

facility involved in low skilled jobs like conversion of content from paper to digital or even pure

data entry (PHASE I).

The initial investment would include cost of hardware, software and other infrastructural

cost; Apart from these, there are recurring costs, such as manpower, electricity and telecom. During

the analysis it has been assumed that there is sufficient supply of jobs at any point of time.

An initial investment of Rs. 7,00,000 (Rupees: Seven Lac only) is required to set up the

above “GAAMZAN” with 20 seats and necessary hardware. The calculations featuring operational

costs shows that total manpower cost for the BPO center would be Rs.89,000 per month, hence the

total operational cost would amount to Rs. 1, 07, 812 per month. In order to demonstrate the

commercial feasibility, the rural BPO must be able to generate revenues of the order that are at least

sufficient for managing the operational cost. Secondary Research Analysis shows that an average

income of Rs.27 per employee per hour will make the unit break even and any penny above this will

result in profit.


Page 42

Table 4.1 (a) Calculation of Total Costs

S. No. Costs Rupees (INR)

1. Initial Investment (Break even Cost) Rs. 6, 00,000

2. Man Power & Other cost Rs. 107,812

BREAK EVEN COST (IN INR)

(@20 operators x 8hrs/day x 25 days/month)

= Rs. 107812/ 25x8x20

Rs. 26.95/hour/operator

Seeing the statistics of urban BPO centers elsewhere involved in low skill jobs like data entry it is

observed that trained operators are able to earn anywhere between Rs.30 to Rs.35 per hour and in

some cases it goes up to Rs. 45 per hour for the operators who continue working on a single

assignment for long duration which leads to improvement in their efficiency.

Table 4.1 (b) PAY BACK PERIOD CALCULATIONS

S.No. RUPEES (in INR)

1. Revenue per month at earnings of Rs 30 per per Hr. per

operator Rs. 1, 20,000

2. Profit per month Rs. 12, 188

Time to return the investment 38 Months approx.

1. Revenue per month at earnings of Rs 35 per Hr. per operator Rs. 1, 40, 000

2. Profit Per month Rs. 32, 188

Time to return the investment 16 Months approx.

Based on the above analysis, it is now imperative that revenue of Rs.250 to 300 per day per operator

will be enough to meet the operational cost as well as to help repay the initial investment in a short

or mid term span.


Page 43

4.5.1 TABLES FOR BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

Table 4.2 (a) Calculation of Fixed Cost

S.No. PARTICULARS Qty. Rupees (in INR

approx. )

1. Computer @ Rs. 20,000 20 No’s 4, 00,000

2. Printer/ Scanner 2 No. 10, 000

3. Server 1 No. 40, 000

4. UPS + Generator 1 No. each 1, 00, 000

5. Furniture, Fixture, Lights, etc. - 50, 000

Total Fixed Costs Rs. 6, 00,000


Page 44

Table 4.2 (b) Calculations for Operational Cost

Assumptions A 20 executive BPO facility executing low skilled back office jobs like data entry or

other transaction based jobs.

(Approx. figures in Rs.)

Nos Rate/month (Rs) Total Salary (Rs)

Total Operators 20 Rs. 3500 Rs. 70, 000

Quality controllers 2 Rs. 5000 Rs. 10, 000

Administrator 1 Rs. 5000 Rs. 5, 000

Accountant 1 Rs. 4000 Rs. 4, 000

(a) Total manpower cost per month Rs. 89,000

Electricity Cost for 20 computers:

Average consumption per computer 180W

Usage hrs/day 8

Usage days/month 25

Kilowatt usage/computer/month 36

Cost/unit of electricity (Rs) 6

(b) Electricity cost for 20 computers 4320 Rs/month

(c) Other electricity consumption per month 2000 Rs/month

(d) Other Costs:

Rent (550 Sq. Ft.) 2000 Rs/month

Connectivity cost 1000 Rs/month

Misc.( 5% of manpower cost) 4450 Rs/month

Interest on investment @11% p.a. 5042 Rs/month

Total Operational Cost per month Rs. 1, 07,812


Page 45

4.5.3 FUNDING:

i. Capital = Rs. 2,00,000

ii. Loan from DCI @ 18% Subsidy under ED Scheme = Rs. 2, 00,000

iii. Loan from Bank @11% interest = Rs. 3, 00,000

TOTALS: Rs. 7, 00,000/-


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4.4 AVAILABILITY OF CLIENTS FOR “GAAMZAN” BPO

There are a number of clients, who wants to outsource works locally. Government of J&K,

for instance, has plans to digitize official records, land records, electoral list etc, as part of

e-governance initiative. This would be a mammoth exercise, which would require enormous amount

of labor in the rural parts.

It would be interesting to see the possible domestic clients:

1. Government departments

2. Existing Businesses

3. Data entry jobs from financial institutions

4. Hospitals

5. Tier –I and Tier – II clients in phase II & III

An instance is the BOMBAY MERCHANTILE BANK… which still follows traditional file

processing system.


Page 47

4.5 SWOT Analysis - on the role to render BPO services

Outsourcing is not a one time effort aimed to reduce operational cost and manage short term

relationships; it is about delegating operational capabilities and management as-well-as to add value

and build long-term relationships. India is surely riding the high wave of BPO business, but

initiatives like rendering outsourcing services through existing telecenter network have been in its

latent state. A SWOT analysis has been undertaken to understand the strengths, weakness,

opportunities and threats for such rural initiatives through rural BPO.

a) Strengths:

Vast telecenter network availability: Existence of number of telecenters in different parts

of Kashmir provides a huge untapped potential to cater BPO services.

Low investment cost: Investment costs are lower than setting up a BPO unit in urban areas.

Absence of attrition: Since there are less opportunities for employment in private sector in

Kashmir, attrition is near to impossible.

Low business management and marketing capabilities of Khidmat Centers: Though

telecenters provide a host of ICT services, but the operators lack the management and

marketing capabilities for BPO jobs. Here lies an opportunity for a rural BPO.

b) Weakness:

Poor infrastructural availability: The rural infrastructure in most of the areas in Kashmir is

poor. It is very difficult to locate the exact location of BPO.

Political sensitivity of the State: The political situation of the Kashmir Valley is highly

flexible.

High Risk: Risk involved is more than elsewhere in world.


Page 48

c) Opportunities:

Low manpower cost: The wages/manpower cost in the rural areas are low as compared to

urban region, which provide an edge to Rural BPO.

Income generation and employment opportunities: Rural BPO outsourcing jobs will

certainly help in creating job and livelihood prospects for the local people.

Enhanced rural economy: Such rural BPO will help in long run to generate new economic

activities.

d) Threats:

Increasing global quality standards: The ever rising quality requirements of the clients

could be a bottleneck in such outsourcing initiative, as it will require intensive training for

the employees of rural BPO.

Data security: Providing and ensuring data security for the clients data and information, at

the rural BPO, could be a uphill task.


Page 49

Chapter 5: SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 THE ROAD AHEAD

In continuation to this study, the areas that can be taken up for future research work on rural BPO

services are as suggested below:

a) Changing the perception of people

1. Entrepreneurship development and negotiation skills are important to excel in any field

related to economic independence.

2. The migration of rural educated youth to urban industrial centers outside state could

scale down and help reverse present migration trend. The urban migrants, with their

experience, might come back and take the avenues to further heights.

3. Dependence on Govt. jobs would also scale down appreciably.

4. A rural BPO would transform the rural map and can act boon to the rural economy.

b) Manpower Capacity Building

1. Detail the outsourcing services (rural BPO and others) with skill-set requirement visà-

vis employability in rural Kashmir.

2. Document the Training Needs and its course contents for the village people on above

identified outsourcing services.

3. Exploring the role of local agencies (College/IT Institutes) in imparting the training at

low cost.

4. Employability is the biggest issue. Kashmiri youth must be inculcated with

employability factors like customer handling, soft skills at the basic level.


Page 50

c) Readiness for rural BPO

1) Categorize the rural locations district-wise for their readiness on BPO initiatives, in terms of

infrastructure, telecenters concentration, conducive environment, etc.).

2) Work for possible Tie-ups with outsourcing partners in Tier I and Tier II cities.

3) Business awareness and education is mandatory to change perception of people

4) Practical Exposure to the valley students is the need of hour for them, to be employable at all

levels of business spectrum.

5) Computer Training and outsourcing is the order of the day, it must be promoted.

d) Further business opportunity

1) Explore the role of rural telecenters to facilitate rural e-Commerce for accessing better

markets for the local produce (agri, handloom, artisan, etc.) The above are some of the areas

that can be taken up as further research work for outsourcing services through the rural BPO.

2) The already existing BPO must be encouraged to enhance employment and develop a work

force who can serve the entrepreneurship drive in the valley.


Page 51

5.2 Role of State Government to encourage Rural BPO

Above mentioned suggestions are not complete until there is Govt. Support, therefore it requires a

joint effort of private and public partnership to improve upon the existing scenario which could

make the rural BPO as a viable business proposition. The respective local Governments should work

in tandem with private institutions to create a conducive atmosphere for the growth of IT industry.

i. Governments should bring out pro IT policies which are transparent and stable. Also they

must ensure to promote new & innovative entrepreneurs by offering special incentives,

subsidies and rebates to them.

ii. There should be enough rural banks and micro-finance institutions which could offer low

interest loan to the entrepreneurs to set up BPO business unit. An effort could be made to

provide special subsidies on IT hardware and software for low income groups so that they

could come forward to take up such jobs and uplift their social and economic status.

iii. Electricity and telecom infrastructure should be upgraded in the rural areas to provide constant

electric supply. The Govt. departments can engage local NGOs like THE HOPE

FOUNDATION GANDERBAL to promote the literacy and IT education so that more number

of people could be made available as manpower.

iv. Govt. in association with schools and colleges in the region should develop BPO specific

programmes and modify curriculum in entry-level educational institutions. Also some Pvt.

Partners ASPIRE solns...we create employability & international NGO‟s for conflict zones

like THE MERCY CORPS could be roped in to develop BPO industry oriented courses.

v. Most importantly the Government can act as a client to the rural BPO initiative by transferring

some of its back office jobs to the rural end. Support from local bodies can help the BPO

model to attain viability in a short term.


Page 52

CONCLUSIONS

The outsourcing business in India is based on sound fundamentals. But as the market

gets over exposed, certain chinks develop that threaten the very basis of the existence of the

business. India has got the competitive advantage to capture a good share of the global

outsourcing market and rural INDIA, the DOMESTIC outsourcing market. Only constant

innovation and spotting new opportunities can help rejuvenate this competitive advantage.

Current trend therefore is that, the outsourcing companies are moving towards tier III cities

for their outsourcing operations and rural BPO “GAAMZAN” is definitely one of those

business innovations that will help Kashmir to begin a new Era of Freedom.


Page 53

LIMITATIONS

1) This project is a start up work in the field of entrepreneurship in the valley that too at the

highest level of innovation, possible flaws in the approach may exist.

2) The general survey was conducted on the respondents who were mainly in the age group of

18-28 years, hence the perception and awareness may vary for other age groups.

3) There is a possibility of self-interest, bias of the respondents while answering the

questionnaires.

4) The exact location for the implementation cannot be ascertained to be a proper rural area,

instead the suburb of the city say HMT.

5) The project may need a further thorough study of the risks of all spheres (Political, social,

Economical & Technological) from the perspective of Crisis Management involved in the

implementation of the same.


Page 54

BIBILOGRAPHY & REFERENCES

1. Research Methodology By Naresh K. Malhotra

2. Marketing Management By Philip Kotler

3. Secrets of Power Marketing Research By Peter Urs Bender, George

Torok

1. http://www.desicrew.in/

2. http://www.harva.co.in

3. http://www.business2rural.com

4. http://www.nasscom.in/upload/43171/Rural_BPO.pdf

5. http://www.tenet.res.in/

6. http://www.bpoindia.org/faq/setup-guidelines.shtml

7. http://india.gov.in/allimpfrms/alldocs/8946.pdf

http://www.desicrew.in/

http://www.harva.co.in/

http://www.business2rural.com/

http://www.nasscom.in/upload/43171/Rural_BPO.pdf

http://www.tenet.res.in/

http://www.bpoindia.org/faq/setup-guidelines.shtml

http://india.gov.in/allimpfrms/alldocs/8946.pdf


Page 55

ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE COVER PAGE:

1. Name

2. Age

3. Gender

4. Education

5. Address

6. Phone. No

7. Email

8. Designation

9. Experience in

the sector (in yr‟s)


Page 56

Project Purpose: Reduce poverty and foster inclusive economic growth through increased youth

entrepreneurship in the Kashmir Valley.

Research Purpose: To reduce barriers, improve support and strengthen a culture of youth entrepreneurship

that stimulates the start up and growth of at least 200 youth enterprises in 10 districts of

the Kashmir Valley.

Confidentiality: Your Identity will be kept confidential and nothing that you say in the course of this

research will be attributed to you unless you authorise it. Your real name will never be

used in any written report or article or oral presentation that results from research. You

are free to ask questions about the research process and to choose to stop participating at

any point. If you choose to withdraw from study, any data collected from you will not be

used.

Your signature below indicates that:

1. The research has been explained to you;

2. Your questions have been fully answered; and

3. You freely and voluntarily choose to participate in research project.

Signature of participants:_________________________

Date: ________________


Page 57

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR URBAN BPO AEGIS

1. Name and Address of the Company:

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Name of contact person, Mobile number, e-mail address:

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. Nature of Business( BPO/ Telecenter): __________________

4. Web site address:___________________________________

5. How many employees are there in your organization/no. of telecenters in Kashmir :

i) 0-50

i) 50-100

ii) 100-200

iii) >200

iv)

6. Are trained people available as per your requirement? Yes/No

7. what is your requirement_______________________________________

8. Which skilled workers are required but not available (approx. no.):

____________________________________________________________________

9. In which trade/skill do you find shortage of skilled manpower:

____________________________________________________________________


Page 58

10. What is the minimum qualification that you seek, in skilled workers: (Please tick

& give details wherever necessary):

i) Diploma holders

ii) ITI pass-outs

iii) Under-graduates

iv) School-drop-outs

v) Any other, please give details: ____________________________

11. Do you provide any in-house training to your employees?

i) Yes ii) No

12. If yes, then please specify the type of training and the duration to be provided:

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

13. Any other suggestions for development of IT& BPO industry in Kashmir:

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

14. Two key recommendations.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

15. Two key suggestions

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________


Page 59

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR GOVT. / PRIVATE DEPARTMENTS

Department/Organizations:

1. In your department, what are the processes that are highly dependent on IT?

i. Data Entry & Data Processing

ii. Forms Processing, Billing

iii. Digitization of Paper work

iv. Non- IT processes

2. What is the amount of work load that you think must be outsourced?

i) Very High

ii) High

iii) Moderate

iv) Low

v) Very Low

3. What is the nature of work you want to outsource?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________

4. Are you presently engaged in outsourcing activity?


Page 60

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________

5. If you have to outsource any part of the work what will be the process?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________

6. Two key recommendations

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________

7. Two key suggestions.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________


Page 61

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR GENERAL POPULATION

1. Do you have the basic knowledge of computers? Yes/No

2. Do you know about any BPO or Khidmat center in Kashmir? Yes/No

3. How often do you go to Khidmat Center for informational activities?

i) Frequently

ii) Occasionally

iii) Rarely

iv) Never

4. Do you have easy access to information you need about things relevant to you? Yes/No

5. Do you want a customer care service/helpline for your information processing services?

Yes/No

6. What are the products that you identify for the helpline?

i) Data Work

ii) Rural issues

iii) Education

iv) Business Practices

7. How many people do you know from your locality who is computer literates?

_________________________________________________________________________

8. If you are provided employment or a job in a BPO sector would you prefer to join that

vis-à-vis your expectations from that job. Yes/No


Page 62

9. Two Key recommendations.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

10. Two key suggestions.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Documents

Project GaamZan- BPO