Infy, AP rural BPO push to create 1,000 jobs

The rural development department of Andhra Pradesh government and Infosys BPO Limited signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday for setting up rural BPO centres in 22 districts across the state.

Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty chief executive officer T Vijaya Kumar and Infosys BPO Limited CEO and managing director Amitabh Chaudhry signed the MoU in the presence of chief minister K Rosaiah, state rural development minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar and other senior officials in Hyderabad.

Chaudhry said that one rural BPO centre would be set up in each of the 22 districts. "The first such BPO centre will be set up in the next six weeks which will provide a testing ground for this model. The capital expenditure and other details will be worked outsubsequently," he said.

"Over 1,000 people would get direct employment through the rural BPO centres in the next 12-15 months. Statistics suggest that direct employment generates 1.4 times indirect employment as well," the CEO said.

Andhra Pradesh would be the first state where Infosys would be setting up rural BPO centres, he said.

"We are in talks with some other states as well for similar ventures but I can't disclose the names at this stage," Chaudhry told PTI.

Infosys would be partnering with Desicrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd and Ruralshores Business Services Pvt. Ltd. for executing the rural BPO centres initiative in Andhra Pradesh.

Desicrew already has many rural BPO centres while Ruralshores is a leading rural BPO provider in the country.

Meanwhile, the rural development department has also signed an MoU with the Life Insurance Corporation of India for implementing the Abhayahastham -- co-contributory pension scheme for member of the women self-help groups.

SERP CEO T Vijaya Kumar and LIC managing director Thomas Mathew signed the MoU.

The scheme is slated to be launched from November 1, Andhra Pradesh Formation Day, to benefit 1.25 crore (12.5 million) members of over 900,000 SHGs.

SERP will be the nodal agency for implementing the pension scheme while LIC will be the fund manager.

The rural BP centres to be set up by Infosys will be used to data storage and record maintenance of the pension scheme beneficiaries.

Image: Saloni Malhotra, CEO, DesiCrew Solutions. | Photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj