He said the government is determined to create a knowledge based society to improve efficiency and reach of the services. He said unlike industrial revolution, India is all set to take lead in the ongoing digital revolution.

 

He said India’s contribution in the growth of IT industry is well acknowledged all over the world. The sector has substantial share in India’s growth story. During last fiscal, IT & IT enabled services earned the highest ever revenue of $143 billion which is around 9.3 percent of GDP in India. During the same period the sector also recorded an export of $108  billion which is around 45 percent of services export from India. The sector gave direct employment to 3.7 million people and last year alone 2 lakh additional employment was created.

 

On the prospects of the BPO industry, Prasad said that India holds 38 percent share in global BPO industry and the stage is set for massive growth of the sector. With increased focus of the government on good governance and impetus of the industry towards better customer services, the need for call centers will increase.

 

He said that the country is gradually moving towards a citizen oriented e-governance model, which will be based on reduced physical interface with the government office and the need for effective citizen support would be required. This demand can be met by the call centres. Moreover, running BPO operations in big cities has become expensive due to rising cost of real estate and other essential amenities. To mitigate this cost factor, the BPO industry should move to small towns where these overheads are lesser. According to an estimate, if the BPO industry moves to smaller towns it will save around 10-25 percent of the costs.