Digital India: BPO schemes provide employment to more than 51,584 people across the nation

By: Yash Gupte

The initiative is focused on three main vision areas: governance and services on demand, digital citizen empowerment, and digital infrastructure as a vital utility for every citizen.

The central government launched the Digital India programme with the goal of making India a knowledge-based economy and a society that is enabled by technology by assuring digital access, inclusion, empowerment, and closing the digital divide. The initiative is focused on three main vision areas: governance and services on demand, digital citizen empowerment, and digital infrastructure as a vital utility for every citizen. A programme called "Digital India" serves as an umbrella for numerous initiatives from various Central Ministries/Departments, as well as from States and Union Territories (UTs).

By encouraging the establishment of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) operations by offering financial support of up to 1 lakh per seat, the government launched the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) and the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) as part of the Digital India programme with the aim of creating employment opportunities and dispersing the Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industry in small cities and towns. 246 BPO/ITES units operating under IBPS and NEBPS have begun operations, covering 27 States/UTs, and are currently directly employing more than 51,584 people.

Apart from the BPOs and ITES, the government has launched many other initiatives under the digital India programme. One such programme is the establishment of Common Service Centre (CSC). CSCs are offering government and business services in digital mode in rural areas through Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). Over 400 digital services are being offered by these CSCs. So far, 5.21 Lakh CSCs are functional (including urban & rural areas) across the country, out of which, 4.14 Lakh CSCs are functional at Gram Panchayat level. There are 23,035 CSCs are functional in the State of Rajasthan, out of which 18823 CSCs are functional at the Gram Panchayat level.

The chart below shows the direct employment generated in states under the BPO schemes.

Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

Tamil Nadu has benefitted the most from the BPO schemes as 14,204 people are directly employed under the scheme. Tamil Nadu is followed by Andhra Pradesh as 12,925 people are employed in BPOs under the schemes. The north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura are the poorest performing states as these states have not been able to provide much employment under the BPO schemes. In Arunachal Pradesh, only 37 people are directly employed under the BPO schemes while in Tripura, the number stands at 15.

The central government must work in close collaboration with the state governments for the successful implementation of the scheme. The BPO schemes can act as an effective contributor in employment generation and bring down the unemployment rate in the country. Also, India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) and the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) under the Digital India programme can develop a valuable skillset among the youth and this can prevent the youth from indulging in anti-social activities establish a peaceful and prosperous north-east.