The BPO/ITES operations would be set up in order to propel the IT/ITES industry in the backward areas of the state and also with a view to provide maximum job avenues to the youth. Owing to the efforts of the Punjab Government, the state’s share of allotted seats has been increased from 1200 to 2600 which would lead to 3900 IT professionals being able to get jobs.Disclosing this, Information Technology Minister, Punjab Mr. Vijayinder Singla said that the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology would provide fillip to the setting up of BPO/ITES operations in the digitally backward regions of Punjab under the ‘BPO Promotion Scheme’. In accordance with this scheme, the eligible companies would also be provided with the capital assistance in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF). He said that it is also the part of the scheme to encourage investment in the IT/ITES sector for regional expansion of the IT sector as a whole.Mrs. Vini Mahajan, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology Department, Punjab also detailed that throughout the country except some states and cities of the North East, financial assistance is being provided under the sanctioned IBPS scheme.
For this purpose, assistance to the tune of 50 percent of the onetime expenditure on the sanctioned items with maximum limit upto Rs. 1 lakh per seat, would be given whereas the special benefits would be given under the limit of of Rs. 1 lakh per seat.Divulging further, Additional Chief Secretary said that as per the 2011 census, Punjab got 1200 seats as per the IBPS BPO seat distribution in the States/UTs on the basis of the population percentage. According to Additional Chief Secretary, ‘The Software Technology Parks of India’ (STPI) which is the autonomous institution of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, was nominated as the nodal agency for implementing the IBPS initiative. Several awareness campaigns were also run along with the workshops in league with the STPI and the Information Technology Department, Punjab Government for spreading awareness regarding the scheme.