Country's second biggest private sector lender HDFC Bank has set up India's first ever rural BPO at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, employing youths from neighbouring Villages.
The BPO, set up by the bank's subsdiary ADFC, commenced operations in July and started supporting several outsourced processing activities of the lender, said A Rajan, Country Head, Operations, HDFC Bank.
The bank employs more than 500 people and plans to ramp it up to over 1,500 by March 2009, making it one of the largest rural BPOs in the banking sector.
Giving the rationale behind setting up a rural BPO, Rajan said, "the bank is pioneering an initiative which has the potential to revolutionise rural India by taking job opportunities closer to the rural doorsteps, through economically viable projects."
He said the bank would be able to achieve it without compromising on customer service levels and economic viability of the project.
Depending on the success of this initiative, there are plans to open similar rural BPOs in other states as well.
Rajan also felt the idea holds huge potential and other banks, insurance companies and mutual funds also could consider financial outsourcing through rural BPOs, thus creating jobs in thousands in the hinterland.
The BPO is located at Tirupati, a semi-urban area, where the bank managed to get broadband connectivity from BSNL.