In possibly the biggest investment by any BPO player in the North-East, BPO major Genpact will sign an MoU with the Meghalaya government for opening centres in the state. The process to ink the deal with Genpact was put on hold due to the poll code of conduct, but now the proceedings have been put on fast track and the agreement is expected to be signed in a fortnight's time, Meghalaya IT Minister RG Lyngdoh said.The foray of the BPO major is in line with reports that the Tata Consultancy Service has also signed an MoU with Assam government for its entry into the region.With IT giant Symantec also entering into the region for devising educational programmes, Lyngdoh hoped that other IT companies would now follow suit and tap the huge human resource potential of the region."Every year thousands of educated youth from North-East are going out and mostly being employed in IT-enabled companies, which includes Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs).The youths will now have a reason to smile as BPOs are setting up shops in the region," he said. A total of 150 acres of land has been kept aside for setting up of IT estate in Meghalaya, the Minister said, adding that free wi-fi connection will be distributed in the business hubs of state capital.Intel CEO said the company has seen price erosion for certain memory chips in the first quarter."The setting up of the BPOs in the North-East will reduce the training and operation costs of the companies and it will also help the employees to save their income," he said.Companies are said to be impressed with good command over English language and the sense of loyalty that people from this region bring to the job, resulting in lower attrition.The investment will serve multiple objectives, including generating IT employment, improving IT infrastructure and using IT as a catalyst to fuel economy in other industries.Currently, fresh graduates from universities in this region are hired for vacancies in other parts of the country as states like Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh are the preferred ones for companies to scout for talent.BPO company 24/7 Customer hired about 150 people from Nort-East and eastern India in last few years, while the Maveric Systems, an independent testing organisation, hired 24 students from four engineering colleges and one university in North-East, according to recent reports.
