Security check: NASSCOM takes initiative

Bhaskar Hazarika

NEW DELHI: NASSCOM is looking at broadening the scope of the National Employee Registry by including vendor employees in a bid to enhance security in the BPO sector.

The online registry, which is scheduled to be launched mid-January 2006, would enable BPO companies to do background checks on the employees they hire. The National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) will host the registry.

This is expected to help call centre companies to run verification checks on the employees of transport and security agencies they hire.

NASSCOM and NSDL will share the revenue. The registry will address the security concerns associated with the industry. There have been many reports of fake resumes. While the BPO employee database will be voluntary, the vendor database will be mandatory.

The latter will also cover agencies hired by BPOs for catering and housekeeping functions. It will contain details of employees of vendors, and vendor agencies will authorise BPOs to run background checks on its staff.

The verification will be done by a background-checking agency. The database for BPO employees will require authorisation by the candidate himself.

It will include details such as the name, educational qualification, professional qualification, previous employment information, photograph and fingerprint on the NSDL database.

Prospective employers can then choose to run background checks on the candidate. In the second phase, the database will include a separate section on pending criminal cases.

NSDL, which manages electronic share transfers, already has expertise in this area. It hosts a database of investors, key executives of companies, and stock market intermediaries.