Rural BPOs may get up to 50% subsidy

pril 08, 2015 13:11 IST
A rural BPOThe government plans to offer subsidy of up to 50 per cent of the capital expenditure or Rs 100,000 per seat, whichever is lower, for setting up business process outsourcing units in small towns and villages.

The government has a target of creating 45,000 seats in the next two-three years, according to people close to the development.

The scheme will have an outlay of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) and the subsidy will be available up to March 2017.

The contours of the rural BPO policy were finalised on Monday, in a meeting of the officials involved in the making of the policy, by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad and the policy will be announced soon.

“Capital support in the form of viability gap funding will be an open bid system for companies that want to set up rural BPO centres,” a senior ministry official said.

The policy is meant to promote information technology in rural areas that have been left out so far. India’s major infotech hubs are in Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Kolkata. The policy will exempt these hubs.

Companies will also be offered incentives for employing more women.

The objective is to create skills, besides generating employment opportunities, in small towns.

According to a Nasscom report, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Jaipur along with Bhubaneshwar, Cochin, Vishakapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Indore are fast emerging as new destinations for business process management, a synonym to BPO.


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“These cities have made their way to the BPM sector map owing to their excellent infrastructure, including cheaper real estate, cost competitiveness, availability of talent and conducive business environment,” it said.

Also, the BPM sector is now $23.3 billion from $3.2 billion a decade ago.

It employs 956,000 people, of which around 186,000 have been added over the past four years, according to Nasscom.

The ministry has been in the process of formulating guidelines for rural BPOs ever since the new government took over under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an interview to Business Standard recently, Prasad said, “We are formulating a policy for setting up call centres in small towns and rural areas.

“BPOs have mainly been restricted to seven-eight cities.

“We want BPOs to be set up in Gorakhpur, Jalandhar, Idukki, Aurangabad and other such small towns.

“The government will create a policy for enabling such call centres with due hand-holding and incentives to private players.”

SOURCING IT RIGHT

Govt to offer subsidy of up to 50% of capital expenditure or Rs  1 lakh/seat, whichever is lower
Target to set up 45,000 seats in the next two-three years
Scheme outlay to be about Rs 500 crore, valid till March 31, 2017
New BPO destinations -- Ahmedabad, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Indore

Will FY16 be the year of IPOs?

Investment bankers say fund raising through IPOs could stand at Rs 10,000-20,000 crore.

'It could happen easily,' said a market maven with a domestic bank, known for its investment banking arm. He was fending off questions from the media on the poor turnaround in the primary market, despite secondary market indices hitting all-time highs. 

He seemed exasperated at questions on why an initial public offering (IPO) had been withdrawn and two others had a hard time garnering subscription. "I alone pulled in $4 billion for a single IPO (before the financial crises)," he said, implying the money would come when the market was ready. 

An exchange official and another investment banker Business Standard spoke to expressed confidence that there would be Rs 10,000-20,000 crore (Rs 100-200 billion)  in IPO money this financial year. 

Recent filings suggest companies are well on their way to raising this sum. On the first day of this financial year, six companies filed IPO documents.

A look at some of the names suggests at least Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) could be raised by companies that have already secured an approval to hit the market. If companies manage to raise Rs 10,000 crore, this will be the best year for IPOs since FY11. 

In FY15, companies raised Rs 2,769 crore (Rs 27.69 billion), according to data from market tracker Prime Database. In FY14, they raised Rs 919 crore (Rs 9.19 billion), the worst year for IPOs since the turn of the century. In 1998-99, companies had raised only Rs 379 crore (Rs 3.79 billion). 

"We could see a large number of companies hitting the market during the pre-Diwali period. A lot of the filings happened in March; these will take some time to be processed. Also, August is typically a lean season because a number of European investors tend to be on vacation…The success of the IPO market will depend on the quality of issuances and valuations," said Mehul Savla, director at RippleWave Equity. 

JM Financial Group Chairman Nimesh Kampani said the IPO pipeline was starting to build up. FY16 would be good for IPOs, with issuances likely to pick up from September, he said, adding it took time for an unlisted company to prepare for listing. 

Others are more optimistic. "Looking at recent filings with the regulator, I think IPOs worth about Rs 20,000 crore or thereabouts could hit the market in the next 12-15 months. These are medium-sized IPOs from a diverse set of sectors, a number of them from the broader consumption theme," said S Ramesh, joint managing director and member of the board, Kotak Investment Banking. 

A total of 11 companies have already secured an approval to launch IPOs, according to Prime data. These are VRL Logistics, engineering company Uniparts India, media company UFO Moviez, Shree Pushkar Chemicals and Fertilisers, Sadbhav Infrastructure Project, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Power Mech Projects, PNC Infratech, MEP Infrastructure Developers, Lavasa Corp and mining company ACB (India). These companies plan to raise a total of Rs 5,010 crore (excluding ACB (India), whose issue size isn't available). 

Others such as Prabhat Dairy, Catholic Syrian Bank, construction company Dilip Buildcon, Logistics firm Navkar Corporation, MM Auto Industries and media firm Amar Ujala Publications have filed IPO documents. 

Other names are also doing the rounds - an airline, an infrastructure company and a pharmaceutical firm are together expected to raise another Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion). 

Around a dozen companies that have filed documents or are waiting for approval are private-equity backed. This has left some experts wondering whether valuations on the table for investors will be enough. 

Of late, valuations have played spoilsport in the case of several IPOs. Cable and internet provider Ortel Communications wasn't able to attract Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.4 billion) for its IPO.

Subsequently, private equity investor New Silk Route cut the shares it had hoped to sell for the offer to go through. Adlabs Entertainment reduced its offer price from Rs 221-230 to Rs 180-215, following poor response, while edible oil company NCML failed to go through despite reducing the offer price. 

An investment banker partly laid the blame for not leaving enough on the table for investors on exiting funds. Promoters were only partly to blame, he said, adding at times, investment bankers oversold valuations they could offer to secure mandates. "The promoter won't suddenly take a 30-40 per cent cut in the promised offer price after the mandate has already been awarded," he said. 

Private equity funds, promoters and investment bankers will have to arrive at a middle ground on valuations, experts say. This might well decide whether FY16 will live up to its promise. 

Others feel one shouldn't read too much into the fact that the first two IPOs of 2015 weren't well-received by investors. Bankers say investors will lap up offerings if they think there's money to be made. 

The latest offering to hit the market, that of Inox Wind, managed to raise Rs 1,000 crore, the highest through an IPO since December 2012. The issue was subscribed 18 times

How to deal with office bullies

Do not suffer bullying in silence. Confront and report the issue before it affects you.

No you are not an easy target.

Nobody at your work can yell at you, insult you or get attacked in any sense.

If you feel negative about any such situation and it is one the reason behind your stress, then you need to stand up for you own right.

However, this is also true that not every situation of misunderstanding or personal disagreement that makes you feel negative is bullying.

Here are some of the signs of bullying behaviour.

Check these before you take any serious action.

• Shouting, be it in private, in front of colleagues, or in front of customers
• Calling names
• Undermining someone’s work by setting them up to fail;
• Demeaning or disrespectful comments;
• Excessive monitoring or criticising someone’s work;
• Purposefully withholding information required to perform a job efficiently;

Here are some great ways, which will help you handle office bully and tell the attacker that you are no more his easy goat.

Communicate

Communication sorts many problems and it will help in this too.

So, as an initial effort, you should walk to the person, who is bullying you, and tell him how his actions, words are affecting you.

It can be possibility that your colleague did not realise that he has jumped the level of being funny or behaving unprofessional.

Document incidences

As a matter of record, keep a record of bullying or offensive behaviour, may be an eye witness. This would support you when you’ll make official complain.

Reach out to direct manager

Discuss the situation with your direct manager before going to HR or senior management.

Talk about the situation that is affecting you mentally or physically and is hampering your working capability.

In case, you do not get expected response here, then proceed to the HR or senior manager.

Keep calm. Wait a while. Follow up!

If you haven't got any reply yet, wait for sometime, as the management might be taking some decision.

You can then follow up with the concerned person for any action taken or any sort of solution.

If you still don’t take the action, there is always a legal way that you can go for.

How to recover from bullying?

You need to take some positive actions to recover from this bulling experience.

Devote your time to your old habits, spend time with family and friends, or plan a vacation to refresh yourself.

You deserve a better change, so in case you wish to change your job, do it. 

Will I ever raise money?

One of the greatest challenges of any start-up is getting funds. Read on to find out how you can step up to the occasion.

My college-going daughter and I kid one another that New York city must be filled with single neurotic women who can’t find Mr Right.

And their ticking biological clocks aren’t helping!

We joke about this, for that’s the impression you’d get from the innumerable movies that we’ve guiltily enjoyed watching together.

If you replace "Will I find Mr Right?" with the question "Will I ever get funded?" we might as well be talking about the typical entrepreneur who’s tired of pitching to their nth prospective investor. And the ticking cash-flow situation doesn’t help either.

So that the suspense doesn’t kill you, let me answer your question. Hell YES! you will get funded.

Now that’s behind us, let’s talk about What the hey "getting funded" means.

I assume most folks -- young (and some not-so-young) entrepreneurs -- when they talk about getting funded mean raising capital from a venture capital firm -- or at the very least an Angel group -- in other words, institutional investors.

If so the answer is a little more sobering -- most folks will likely NOT raise institutional investment! But then again you are not most folks are you?

Don’t be discouraged -- and if you are that easily discouraged -- you might want to check if really want to be an entrepreneur.

Statistics from countries in which entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem are healthy and active -- whether the US, EU or India -- indicate that less than 1 per cent of all start-ups raise angel or venture funding.

Regardless of what you’ve read or heard, at the end of the day institutional investors are looking to get a good return on their money.

Both in the Indian context and even in the larger world of cloud computing, mobile apps, fat-pipe world, folks want to see far greater validation and customer or user traction.

Unless you are Ashok Soota or Elon Musk its unlikely anyone’s going to write checks, because they think your idea’s hot. So the best way to raise funds, is to have done two things

#1 built a business that shows promise and demonstrates you can actually execute

#2 having raised some money in one of three ways spelt out below, to achieve #1 above

The best way, IMO, to achieve #2 is of course to get customers to write you checks.

Numerous businesses such as Practo that have gone on to raise serious money began this way.

My first business Impulsesoft too got its start this way.

It has the advantage of letting you know, that someone actually values what you are doing and is willing to write a check.

Many businesses however, need capital to even get rolling.

PayTM (One97) founder Vijay Sharma did freelancing on the side to generate cash.

In his own words "At one point of time, before I could raise funding, to earn monthly survival money and capital for the business, I started doing some freelance assignments. I worked half day on those and half day on one97. It was tiring but at least I was able to have it going."

Most folks usually get friends, families (and other fools, including yourself) to write you a check or more.

Finally you could borrow money -- could range from family, bank (personal loan against collateral), credit card or that usurious money lender you may not yet know.

It all depends on your risk appetite. Here you are asking someone else to take a bet on you and you need to take the first step.

Sure the world is changing -- FlipKart began with an investment of Rs 6 lakhs and the same amount will NOT get you started in that business.

When Federal Express was getting started they needed upwards of $80 M and starting a new airline needs some REAL money.

So sure some businesses can’t get off the ground without serious capital -- but usually such a business is started by folks or businesses that have already done one or more business.

You as a first time entrepreneur can and will raise money -- only keep in mind it will take longer than you reckoned, will involve kissing a good deal of frogs and is far more in your hands that you realise.

Finally in the Indian context, it’s important to keep the right perspective.

If as an entrepreneur you feel it’s hard to raise money, the story on the other side for an angel or VC is also not all hunky-dory.

Angels and VCs are sitting on money and not finding enough good deals -- a lot of money is chasing few quality deals -- which is why you read about those unrealistically large numbers the other guy or gal seems to be raising. Here’s what you do.

• First quit reading about who’s raising how much money
• Keep building your business -- in other words get customers, ship product, collect revenue
• Build a strong board of advisors and mentors who can help you and your company grow
• Get out there and keep hustling -- networking, building relationships and pitching.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The author K Srikrishna is an entrepreneur, mentor and angel investor. He's the co-founder of Zebu Games and blogs at designofbusiness.com.

On a thali trail: Meandering through Delhi's state bhavans

Harnoor Channi-Tiwary 

Delhi’s hidden secrets for food lovers

Though Delhi has enough food options to deserve its unofficial title of being the Gastronomical Capital of India, there is a hidden secret that even many locals are not aware of. The beauty of Delhi’s diversity lies in the kitchens of people from all over the country who bring with them a vast variety of flavours and cuisines. Thus, what is termed as ‘Indian Food’ (which is usually just Mughlai/ Punjabi food) is just the tip of the iceberg of what the country has to offer one’s palate. So where does one go to best explore these cuisines?

State Bhawans are the answer to all your questions.

Guesthouses of sorts for politicians and state officials, these bhawans also each have a canteen that serves food local to that state. Most of the canteens are open for the public and are very reasonably priced. With cooks originally hailing from the respective states, the food is as authentic as it comes. Andhra Bhawan is the first thing that comes to mind when one mentions State Bhawans but there is so much more that you can explore. Located in and around Chanakyapuri, the central location makes it so much easier for one to visit them often. Do call them in advance to check timings. 

Baking Special: The knead for a loaf

Bindu Ajit 

When she was growing up, Bindu Ajit had only heard of the Challah. After years, she discovered its recipe and got to it right away.

The Jews begin each meal of the Sabbath with two loaves of bread called Challah, each woven with six strands of dough.

The twin loaves symbolise the double portion of Manna that fell on the day before the Sabbath, reminding the Jews that God would provide, even if they would refrain from working on the Sabbath.

As a child, when I heard the story of Manna falling, I always imagined it to taste like my mother's pound cake, powdered and mixed with honey.

In what feels like another lifetime, I recently happened to stumble upon the recipe for the Challah, and immediately decided to try it out.

Mixing up a sticky gooey dough, and kneading it for a good while with sweat trickling down my temples, watching my hands turn it into a warm silken smooth ball, was quite simply such a joy. The feeling of being able to create something beautiful with my own hands is naturally a special one.

By the way, this specific activity may also prove very beneficial, if you happen to be in one of those moods when you really need a punching bag to get some steam out of your system. An absolute win-win.

After leaving the dough covered a while, I came back to find it had puffed itself up to double the size! Gently punching it down and waiting for a repeat performance was not disappointing either.

Braiding it into a pretty shape was such a delightful task, I thought to myself, I could do this every single day and not ever tire of it.

After yet another majestic rise, the shaped dough finally went into the hot oven, and with much impatience I waited in eager anticipation.

The aroma wafting through the house was extremely promising and I was earning myself some seriously envious neighbours.

But nothing could have prepared me for the feeling of absolute wonder when I peeked through the oven glass and saw the most gorgeous golden brown loaf of bread sitting there.

It was very hard to believe that this beauty was created here in my own little kitchen, and not in some fancily equipped pastry kitchen.

Slicing through the firm crust to find a soft and light texture inside, and bringing a piece to my mouth to taste the delicious flavour, was the proverbial the icing on the cake.

I fear this could now become something of an obsession. I am constantly looking forward to the next loaf and longing to feel dough in my hands again.

I feel certain that this is just the beginning of a long and beautiful journey for me. I visualise and dream of a hundred different loaves that I shall bake, and the happy hours spent on them.

I hope I shall find myself baking bread until the Alzheimered day when I end up happily playing with flour and not a clue what it was intended for!

Now it amazes me that many people are intimidated by the idea of baking bread. And there are far greater numbers, to whom the thought has never occurred, to try bake a loaf of bread.

Been there done that, on both counts. And today I have come as far as believing that every single person should add this to their bucket-list.

It's not rocket science, it won't blow up your kitchen, it costs barely anything, and the absolute worst case scenario is some dough in your bin. But it might just turn out to be an awesome and intoxicating ride that you ought not to miss.

So go ahead, bake some bread. It's enriching, enlivening, and most of all, therapeutic.

What's not to loaf?

6 deadliest air crashes in recent times

The aviation industry is experiencing turbulent times. On Tuesday, a German Airbus carrying 148 onboard crashed into the French Alps. The French transport minister says that it is unlikely that there are any survivors.

In the wake of the tragedy, Rediff.com takes a look at the major aviation disasters of recent times.

---

 

Flight: Air Asia Flight 8501

Date: 28 December 2014

Details: The aircraft operating from from Surabaya to Singapore, crashed into the JavaSea during bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board. Two days after the crash, debris from the aircraft and human remains were found floating in the Java Sea. 

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Flight: Sepahan Airlines 5915

Date: August 10, 2014

Details: The HESA IrAn-140 (an Antonov An-140 built under license) crashes shortly after takeoff from Mehrabad International Airport, Iran, killing 39 of the 48 people on board. 

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Flight: Air Algerie AH5017

Date: July 24 2014

Details: The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated by Spain's Swiftair, was heading from Ouagadougou to Algiers carrying 116 passengers -- 51 of them French -- when it disappeared over Mali amid poor weather near the border with Burkina Faso.

 

Flight: TransAsia Airways GE222 

Date: July 23 2014

Details: Forty-eight people died when the Tawainese ATR-72 plane, carrying 54 passengers and four crew to the island of Penghu, crashed into stormy seas during a short flight. It made an abortive attempt to land before crashing on a second attempt.

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Flight: Malaysia Airlines MH17

Date: July 17 2014

Details: Pro-Russian rebels are widely accused of shooting down the Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, using a surface-to-air missile near Grabove in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, 193 of them Dutch.  Obviously, they denied responsibility.

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Flight: Malaysia Airlines MH370

Date: March 8 2014

Details: There is absolutely no clue whatsoever over what happened with this Boeing 777 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board ever since it disappeared from radar over the Gulf of Thailand. Despite vast effort, notably in the hostile South Indian Ocean, to date no debris of any kind has been found from the flight.