Wipro BPO, the Business Process Outsourcing arm of Wipro Technologies today announced the inauguration of its first rural BPO center at Manjakkudi Village in Tamil Nadu. Wipro Technologies is the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT). The Manjakkudi center has a capacity of 120 seats, and will open with a 50 seat pilot project for an international client in the retail sector. Wipro plans to expand its rural BPO operations to 500 seats by March 2013, in Tamil Nadu and to replicate this BPO model across other states in India, in the near future.
The Manjakkudi center is a result of a tie-up with the Swami Dayananda Educational Trust, a public charitable trust involved in providing quality education to the economically backward sections of rural Tamil Nadu.
Manjakkudi is a village on the banks of the River Kaveri in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu with a population of about 2,500. Kumbakonam is the closest town to Manjakkudi. Conceptualized on the ‘Back Office to the Back Office’ (BOBO) outsourcing model, the focus of the center is to capitalize on the literate talent pool available in the region and in doing so, create employment opportunities in the village and its surrounding areas. Graduate students between the age group of 21 to 25 will be employed in the Manjakkudi Wipro BPO center, delivering a range of services to customers across industry sectors.
The Manjakkudi BPO center benefits from a fully equipped IT and physical infrastructure, which complies with standard security and regulatory requirements. The center will be focused on delivering world-class outsourcing services, while connecting this rural community to the world of global business.
Manjakkudi was selected due to the relatively high levels of investment in education in the region. It benefits from more than 46 colleges within a 40 km radius where more than 13,000 students graduate from these colleges annually, thus providing a large talent pool.
"Wipro’s leadership has always been determined to bring opportunity to rural communities through the application of technology – whether that comes from the delivery of a service to that community, or, as in this case, giving the community the chance to realize its potential. Rural BPOs are a crucial part of the development of our country as a business leader,” said Manish Dugar, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Wipro BPO.
Dugar added: “What we see happening is that the established, urban, BPO centers are taking on more specialized, knowledge-based services. This means that the natural opportunity for rural BPO centers, like Manjakkudi, is to take on the bulk data processing jobs. Rural BPOs are also allowing educated people in villages earn a good livelihood without leaving the region and bringing a new level of financial stability to these communities and individuals. This initiative is a part of Wipro’s long term strategy to expand its Rural BPO presence to other parts of India.”
M R. Rajgopal, who works as an Assistant Manager at the Wipro Manjakkudi BPO center explained: “This center opens up new opportunities for me and my colleagues. In the past, professional jobs like these were only available in the cities, which meant leaving the community. We aspire to make this center one of the best respected Rural BPO centers in India to show just how much rural communities like ours can contribute to our country.”
Wipro BPO, the Business Process Outsourcing arm of Wipro Technologies, is one of the largest BPO service providers on a global delivery platform. Wipro BPO has the capabilities to provide onshore, near shore, offshore and hybrid delivery options with operations in more than 28 centers in 11 countries. Wipro BPO’s services involve a broad spectrum of customized outsourcing capabilities leveraging both cross industry and industry specific solutions focusing on sectors such as Banking and Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Consumer Products & Goods, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries. The services portfolio spans industry specific solutions in Customer service (technical and non-technical; voice and non-voice), Finance and Accounting outsourcing, Human Resource outsourcing, Supply chain management, Knowledge services including Data Management and reporting, Legal process outsourcing, and Sales and Marketing outsourcing.
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