New Delhi:
Nasscom, the apex industry association for
software and service companies in India, has announced that the
ministry of communication and information technology, has accepted
its recommendations on removing certain procedural bottlenecks
that were hampering the growth of the Indian call centre industry.
 Nasscom, after consultation with the top 50 ITES players in India,
had submitted a list of recommendations on various licensing and
connectivity issues to the department of telecommunications (DoT)
on 11 April 2002.
 Says Nasscom
president Kiran Karnik: We are pleased that the government has
been very prompt and receptive in accepting almost all our
recommendations. In order to maintain a steady growth and lead
against other emerging countries in the call centre market, there
was a need to simplify licensing norms and encourage investments
from global players. These policy amendments will help reduce
paper work and streamline operations for the call centre industry.
Nasscom, he says, had identified ITES
as an opportunity for the growth of the Indian IT sector a long
time back. Since then we have been pushing the government for
policies that will promote this sector and have consistently been
organising industry forums such as the ITES seminar in Chennai
last year, to give direction to the industry. This has lead to a
healthy 70-per cent growth in the sector and going forward, we
expect this segment to be the growth engine for the IT sector.
Further, he says, this sector has been a major employment
generator, and the acceptance of Nasscoms recommendations
should provide growth opportunities, leading to larger employment
potential.
Nasscoms recommendations accepted by the ministry of
communication and information technology include:
- Sharing of bandwidth for
disaster recovery and mission-critical applications between
multiple entities and redundancy by call centres in order to
build confidence among its overseas customers has been
allowed, provided they operate as independent companies,
entities or consortiums.
-
Call centre approval will
now not be customer-specific, provided the call centre will
update DoT on a periodic basis on the details of customers
added.
- Sharing of bandwidth
between multiple locations of a single entity and also within
the same group of companies will now be permitted.
- To ensure ease of operations, Internet and IPLC
connectivity on the same LAN has been permitted provided the
call centre ensures that there is no diversion of voice or
data traffic to third parties.
Recognising the potential of the ITES sector for India, Nasscom
has been working intensely at promoting this sector among all
parties involved, including the industry, the government and
potential customers. Nasscom has formed a core ITES task force to
look into the issues facing the industry and the possible
initiatives that will further foster growth in the sector.
Besides, Nasscom has also been holding an annual ITES event and
has been promoting India as an ITES destination both at Indian and
international forums. Also, Nasscom, in association with McKinsey,
will soon be releasing a comprehensive study on the opportunities
in the ITES sector in India.
The ITES industry offers a unique opportunity for the Indian
economy, in terms of foreign direct investment, employment and
revenue generation. The IT-enabled services industry in India,
particularly call centres and the back-office segment, has been
growing at over 70 per cent, employing over 1 lakh people, and
generates revenues of Rs 7,100 crore.
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