Punjab goes all out to woo BPO-KPOs

NEW DELHI: The Government of Punjab has earmarked an investment of Rs 10,000 crore to encourage the BPO and KPO industry in the state and, to take the plan forward, the state is looking to acquire 5,000 acres of land across several locations.

Secretary IT, government of Punjab, Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi made these observations at a national summit on 'Domestic BPO: Towards future value addition' organized by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in New Delhi recently.

Dr J S Sarma, secretary, Department of Telecom, and chairman, Telecom Commission, presided over the meet.

Punjab had already acquired 200 acres of land to put up facilities to aggressively promote hi-tech industries in areas of BPO and KPO and another 1,500 acres would be acquired by the end of March 2006, Kalsi said.

The state's administration would shortly give its nod for acquiring another 5,000 acres of land for entrepreneurs in the BPO and KPO sector and the preliminary groundwork was underway, he added.

Kalsi also announced that the government has already decided to outsource the state's land records to facilitate smooth acquisition of its land to entrepreneurs in BPO and KPO areas.

“The major focus of the government of Punjab under the current administration is to shift its agriculture focus to hi-tech areas for increased purchasing power and thereby hike the contribution of services to the state's GDP,” he said.

“The agriculture sector creates about 8 to 9 jobs on Rs one crore's investment, while the same investment creates about 130 jobs in BPO and KPO. Therefore, the state government is very keen to encourage hi-tech industries in the state to ensure larger employment opportunities.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sarma said that the efforts of the government would go towards reducing the cost of telecommunication without adversely affecting existing bottomline cost.