1.4 lakh highend research jobs in 2005

BANGALORE, MARCH 8: High-end BPO work is expected to create 30,000 to 40,000 more jobs in India over the projected one lakh jobs during 2005. More jobs are likely to be created in complex operations such as equity research and analysis, for transactions related to loans, stock trade and insurance among others.

According to industry players, with more high value analytical work being outsourced to India, professional chartered accountants, financial analysts, MBAs and lawyers are increasingly finding their places in BPOs.

Such transaction processes which currently account for 15% to 20% of the Indian BPO pie, are expected to grow at a fast pace during the next few years.

Said TG Ramesh, head-BPO operations, iGate Global Solutions, "While the Indian BPO sector is expected to grow at a rate of 80% during the next few years, the high-end segment will register a 100% growth rate annually, for the next five years."

While BPOs are vying with each other to attract talent for agent level positions, finding post graduates for high end jobs won't be much of a problem, said TransWorks senior vice-president for human resources Nair KP, "Analytical jobs will call for employees with much more maturity and experience, as compared to call centres. Finding competent talent will not be a problem, but training will be required to expose them to the American business environments." Attrition rates (currently between 30% and 35%) among Indian call centres are also likely to be lesser for the higher end players among BPOs.

There is also a lot more momentum in captive BPOs, as more high-end work moves towards India, Mr Nair said. "More and more processes - that may not be considered 'outsourceable' due to certain data security norms or the risk policies of outsourcing companies - are coming to India. Rather than giving such work to third party vendors, companies have started setting up their own captive units here." This thrust on captive units will also benefit Indian players, as the captives are being set up with Indian partners, on a build-operate-transfer mode.