Syndicate bank to set up first public sector BPO

30 June 2005

Chennai: Public sector bank Syndicate Bank is awaiting Reserve Bank of India's sanction to start a business process outsourcing (BPO) outfit. If that fructifies perhaps, it will be the first BPO in the public sector.

The bank hopes to secure mandates from companies, which may need assistance for salary disbursements. The bank says that it will also look at insurance outfits that require back-office inputs.

The authorised capital of the offshoring business has been fixed at Rs10 crore while the initial subscribed capital will be Rs1 crore. According to R Chandrasekar, general manager, the bank would transfer surplus hands after the implementation of the core banking solution in full steam.

The bank says that it intends to deploy select personnel and use its own premises to serve businesses such as insurance and credit cards. The idea is to leverage the potential of its staff, provide them the right training and environment, and enable them to add value to clients from across industries.

"We don't expect opposition from the unions for the transfer from the bank to another legal entity." It should be noted that many call centres after experiencing heavy attrition rates have started recruiting retired bankers to man the seats. The logic being, the retired bankers know the finance field and would be able to better satisfaction to calling customers.

Moreover, after availing their VRS public sector bank staff find it difficult to sit at home or find alternate employment. The average age of 26,395 employees is 47 and they have experience in handling customers in person while manning branch counters.