"Indian companies have been setting up BPOs in various countries including Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China and Thailand. However, the biggest unexplored market is pretty much here in India. The future destination for the Indian BPO industry is within the country," he said.
Delivering his keynote address at the first national rural BPO conference organised by Byrraju Foundation, the NGO arm of Satyam Computer Services Limited, in Hyderabad on Friday, Karnik said Indian BPO companies were moving slowly towards rural areas in setting up facilities.
"Going ahead, we see challenges coming up in the form of competition as a result of the success that we have achieved in IT and BPO industry, coupled with the already existing problems such as lack of talent and related issue of attrition. Clearly, there is a huge untapped talent in smaller towns and the industry should find ways and means to identify this and go where the talent is".
Stating that the Indian IT and BPO facilities are being set up as world-class ones, he said companies should look at small and cheaper facilities for services like data entry to tide over infrastructure and hiring costs.
"We should think of these rural BPO centres as the ones in Hyderabad or Delhi. Quality and standards have to be the same, and work at the same level of intensity using