Target BPOs

‘‘If the industry has to live up to its reputation of being a global enterprise, it must adapt to changes on the horizon or it will lose out to rivals,’’ warns cyberspace and IT lawyer Pavan Duggal.

Many of these changes are either unpalatable for the BPO sector, now accustomed to working silently towards definite targets on customer satisfaction, revenues and headcount ‘‘ramp-ups’’. BPOs, described by the IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran as ‘‘pride of the nation’’, are also hardly expected to be answerable on labour welfare concerns overnight. A brave attempt, however, is underway, and Nasscom is pushing hard for it to have more than big pay packets to talk about.

‘‘We are reviewing our work practices and evolving a set of norms that enshrine openness, honesty and accountability. This is not altruism, I’m saying that Indian companies have set very high benchmarks and we will enshrine them,’’ says Karnik.

The industry is taking a cue from the recent events related to demands for unionisation from Left parties as well.

‘‘We don’t go union-busting and there is no stifling of views in our companies,’’ says Pramod Bhasin, who heads GENPACT, the largest BPO with 20,0000 employees in India. ‘‘Even the UK’s unions don’t want to talk about workspace quality in India in their anti-offshoring campaigns. It is surprising that the Indian companies want to,’’ he says.

And consider the latest, scathing indictment of the outsourcing industry’s work culture and treatment of BPO workers. This comes from a report, ironically penned by a scholar of the VV Giri Institute of Labour, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Labour.

After years of sops and tax benefits, the IT sector and its offshoot, the BPOs, face a report that compares them with prison camps and ancient Roman galleys. The report, based on a survey of nearly 300 companies, links call centres and IT Service organisations with all the glitter and glamour of a flourishing empire, though little but the money to show for it.

Industry, as during earlier complaints, has rallied behind Nasscom, their umbrella organisation, which has promised reform wherever needed and a stiff fight over everything else.

‘‘We will be more than happy to correct what’s not fair or correct,’’ said Nasscom President Kiran Karnik. ‘‘I have worked with the VV Giri institute before and I know their credentials are excellent. We would only like to know whom the surveyer spoke to for coming up with his findings,’’ Karnik said.