Govt to sell BPO as a career

 The government is coming out with a communication campaign to position business process outsourcing (BPO) as a career of choice.

 Officials said such a move was being taken to ensure that the fast-growing sector did not face a manpower shortage. According to estimates by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the Indian business process outsourcing sector will generate 1.1 million jobs by 2008, against 170,000 now.

 But studies by human resources consultants have revealed that people do not look at business process outsourcing as a long-term career option.

 The proposed campaign, which would include advertisements, road shows and seminars, would help to change this, officials pointed out. They also said the government was roping in industry associations like Nasscom and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in this project.

 The campaign, which will take off after the Assembly election process is over, will be co-ordinated by the ministries of information technology and human resources.

 The programme will address areas like the employment and growth potential in the business process outsourcing sector.