News: Independent regulator likely for Indian BPO sector

(BL 19/11/2006) New Delhi - With the pressure building up on the BPO sector to allow formation of unions, the Call Centre Association of India (CCAI) on Saturday said that it was considering a proposal to set up an independent self-regulatory organisation in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Proposed to be on lines of the independent regulator for the telecom sector, CCAI said that the organisation would comprise a nine-member body of a retired Chief Justice of India, representatives of industry bodies such as Nasscom, CCAI, and members from CITU as well as representatives from BPO (business process outsourcing) employees amongst others to monitor the working conditions in the sector. Many companies from the ITES (IT-enabled services) sector are of the view that unionisation of BPO staff was driven more by political aspirations than by the BPO employees. They feared that such a move would hit the industry, which is now plagued by high attrition rates and shortage of skilled labour. "We can form a non-political, quasi Governmental Human Asset Maintenance Forum in the Business Process industry to understand the working conditions of the staff. We do not want to control our employees completely. However, we do not even want the trade unions to take control. So why can't there be an independent regulator for the IT sector, just as it exists in the telecom sector," said Samir Chopra, President, CCAI. Further, CCAI may work with Nasscom to ensure adaptation of better regulatory practices in the ITES sector so as to rule out the need for unions.