Assam Plans to Woo BPO And Call Centres

By Malvika Sampat

Guwahati, May 26 : Assam is planning to pump in more than Rs. 300 crore to take a big leap in IT industry and attract country’s top BPO firms and call centres to the state by improving IT infrastructure and strengthening internet connectivity.

As a first move the government is setting up a State Data Centre in Guwahati which would serve as a centre of IT and communication networks in the state that has been witness to years of violence and communication backwardness. 

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi laid the foundation of the state data centre in Guwahati said the project would cost a little over Rs. 61 crore. The centre will be country’s second such data centre after Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad, the IT hub.

This comes at a time when the Assam government recently constituted an investment advisory committee comprising of country’s top business tycoons including Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, Bharti chairman  Sunil Bharati Mittal and others to pep up business and investment activities.

An official of the state science and technology department said, “As the government is making all effort to woo investors in the state, improving internet connectivity and other latest communication networks is a must. Assam has sizeable number of talented young people who are suitable for the BPO and call center jobs.

Hundreds are already working in country’s top call center. If we can set up call centres here,  we can generate employment and thereby improve our economy.”

The official said that state government was gearing up to computerise all administrative activities and reduce paper works in government departments by strengthening internet connectivity across the state.

Gogoi, who is on a mission to project the state as a destination of business activity while laying the foundation of the State Data Centre said that the centre being set up with the expenditure of Rs. 61 crore would gradually help plug the communication backwardness.

The construction of the data centre would cost Rs. 12. 13 crores,  being set up inside the state secretariat while another Rs. 49.4 crore would be pumped in for the IT infrastructure of the centre.

“The state-of-the-art data centre being set up would strengthen our internet connectivity and services. This would not only benefit government and common people but would also attract BPO and call centre companies to the state,” the official said.

The state information technology minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said the government would soon build a state online portal. Once the portal is set up, government departments would be able to download gazette notification and transfer orders online and the process would be hassle free. He said the government would spend Rs. 250 crore for the portal and would be ready by December this year.

Sarma said the bandwidth process would be changed into optical fibre mode and the band width process would be carried using electronic cables. Union IT, telecom  and communication minister Sachin Pilot recently said the centre was concentrating on improving internet and communication networks in the Northeast.

Pilot, who recently visited the NE including Assam said government was planning to wire up the entire northeast and remote border regions with telecom, Wimax and broadband connectivity and unleash an IT revolution in the region.

[ via allindiatoday ]