The Centre has earmarked financial incentive worth Rs 498 crore to companies for setting up call centres under a new BPO scheme.
The duration of scheme is till March 31, 2017. The call centres are expected to create around 1.5 lakh jobs directly.
“The government has approved 48,000 seats for setting up call centres across the country. The seats for call centres will be divided across the states on the basis of their population,” said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Prasad said that the BPO policy, which is part of government’s digital inclusion programme, would help spread the IT sector across small towns in the country.
Government will reportedly put forth Expression of Interest under the BPO scheme after state governments submit their inputs.
“Out of Rs 498 crore, around Rs 10 crore is for creating awareness and publicity,” IT Secretary R S Sharma said.