OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Business Support Services (Tata BSS), one of the largest domestic BPO service companies in India, belonging to the flagship Tata group, has entered into collaboration with Kakinada SEZ Pvt Ltd (Kakinada SEZ) to commence their operations from this rural BPO Centre. The state-of-the-art rural BPO centre created by Kakinada SEZ, a GMR Group Company, has been inaugurated today at Kotha Mulapeta Village, U. Kothapalli Mandal, East Godavari district.

The centre was inaugurated by Srinivas Koppolu, managing director, Tata BSS and Prasanna Challa, CEO, Kakinada SEZ. Other senior officials of Tata BSS and Kakinada SEZ were present on the occasion.

On this occasion, BHA Ramaraju, project head, Kakinada SEZ said that, "This is a good beginning to the SEZ, ushering investments in new economy while also creating employment opportunities to eligible local youth. We are on track to bring in further investments in larger industrial activity within the SEZ, to meet the aspirations of the local population".

Rural BPO is an effort to percolate India's strong position in BPO industry away from the established Metros and the Tier II cities, to rural areas where there is an abundance of good quality manpower. Tata BSS has proved that with proper training, the young boys and girls of rural India can perform in a BPO as effectively as their urban counterparts and in a far more cost-effective manner. Besides, there are tremendous benefits to the society, by way of limited displacement of rural youth who get respectable employment options, without having to migrate to urban centres and metro cities."

Mr Challa said, "Kakinada SEZ, which is a part of the infrastructure major GMR Group, would provide world class general and technical infrastructure including digital connectivity to the Rural BPO. The youth from villages in and around Kakinada SEZ would be provided basic training by GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the CSR arm of GMR Group, to improve their employability in the Rural BPO."

Mr Koppolu said "The centre has a capacity of about 200, which we hope to reach within 1-2 years. The operations in the centre are expected to commence in February 2015. We hope that this centre would herald a long and beneficial collaboration between Tata Business Support Services and GMR Group across rural locations in India.

This is a part of KSEZ's inclusive development programme, targeted at providing sustainable employment options for the population living in the villages around Kakinada SEZ. Kakinada SEZ, together with GMRVF has been undertaking several programmes directed at improving the Education, Health and Livelihoods of the population in its zone of influence, through its Clinic, School, Women's Common Interest Groups, Training Centre and many community initiatives.