Incentives for firms setting BPOs in small towns soon: Telecom Minister

New Delhi: Government will soon finalise a policy providing incentives to companies for setting up BPOs in small towns of the country, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on January 17.

"One of the things that I am engaged in is to have proper policy to have BPOs in small mofussil town of India with proper encouragement and incentives. That policy we are going to finalise," Prasad said while speaking at Global Business Summit. He said the IT profile of India shows hubs in few limited cities like Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vijaywada, Bengaluru, and Mysore and this needs to be widened across the country, particularly, in small mofussil towns.

"Once that happens, I see a lot of allied activities going to happen. I am writing to chief ministers for provisions of electricity and incentives. Once a BPO comes in small mofussil town of India I see a different India, IT enabled India emerging, " Prasad said.

He said the Centre has plans to connect 2.5 lakh panchayats in three years, which will fuel lot of business opportunities. "I see a lot of business potential emerging because of optical fibre connectivity. Once these optical fibre connectivity is laid down, I see a pressure on governments to ensure electronic delivery of services. many state governments are doing but they need to improve," Prasad said.

The Minister said the government is focussing on boosting electronics manufacturing in the country as in absence of corrective measures India's import bill could surpass oil import bill by 2020. The Centre is providing incentives of Rs 25 on every Rs 100 spent by companies on electronics manufacturing and granting Rs 50 crore for every 50 acre of land given by state governments.

"We have received proposals worth Rs 19,000 crore from various companies in the field of electronics manufacturing," Prasad said. The Minister said he has travelled to countries known for electronics companies and met top officials of companies like Samsung, LG , Osram and Infineon, who have shown keen interest for manufacturing in India "Electronics manufacturing proposal are coming. We have cleared Rs 5,000 crore worth proposals and rest are coming," Prasad said.