In such a desperate situation, the BPOs set up the Indian corporates in rural India are an oasis of relief to the much harried industry, so much so that even the software industry leaders acknowledge that the next revolution will happen in rural BPO sector.

NASSCOM member Ashok Desai, in a recent conference in Ahmedabad said that the next revolution in Indian Information Technology (IIT) sector could happen in rural BPO sector. Why every one is betting on the rural sector is the fact that rural BPOs in Haryana and Karnataka have managed to cut down on cost and the employee attrition is also low due to various local reasons.

HDFC bank said that this was an attempt to take the opportunities to the rural doorsteps through economically viable projects. It is not that the bank is doing all this for philanthropy but the project follows plain business logic.

An employee working at a rural BPO is paid around Rs 3500 per month whereas for the same kind of work, a corporate will have to shell out at least Rs 9,000 even in tier I city. The industry also saves huge money on account of real estate as it is quite cheap compared to the urban areas, particularly the metros. A big positive is the very low attrition rate in rural BPOs, which stands around five per cent; the rate is 30 to 40 per cent in urban centres.

The salary of Rs 3,500, which a rural BPO sector employee gets at an average has helped in improving their standard of living. Majority of the employees being locals continue to work as agriculturists, farmers, milkmen and so on and so forth.

For the rural folks, the promise of a safe and regular BPO job in their own villages is of great value and for the corporates constantly looking to better efficiency and productivity, rural India offers a huge benefit in term of cost cutting and revenue generation.

With India continuing to grow as a major outsourcing hub, it in increasingly becoming clear that the BPO industry will increasingly push to the rural areas.