IT & BPM

India's IT BPM industry amounts for 56% of the global outsourcing market size. The sector has witnessed a series of investments in recent times. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has approved 67 proposals worth $ 2.5 bn; 16 venture funds have been set up and equity inflow of $ 1.8 bn in computer software and hardware sector.

You can find details regarding reforms, information on sub-sectors and government targets and initiatives in the Achievement report at the link.

As per Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification No. 890E dated 26 September 2000, the list of eligible IT enabled services under BPO operations considered in IBPS are as under:
i) Back office operations.
ii) Call centres.
iii) Content Development or Animation.
iv) Data Processing.
vi) Geographic information System Services.
vii) Human Resource Services.
viii) Insurance Claim processing.
ix) Legal Databases.
x) Medical Transcription.
xi) Payroll.
xii) Remote Maintenance.
xiii) Revenue Accounting.
xiv) Support Centres.
xv) Website services.

As per NASSCOM, BPO includes following processes that may be IT-enabled, do not necessitate on-shore presence and are hence, offshore-able:
1) Customer Interaction & Support (CIS)- CIS includes all forms of IT-enabled customer contact, inbound or outbound, voice or non-voice based support used to provide customer services, sales and marketing, technical support and help desk services.
2) Finance & Accounting (F&A)- F&A includes activities such as general accounting, transaction management (account receivables and payables management), corporate finance (e.g. treasury and risk management, and tax management); compliance management and statutory reporting, etc.
3) Horizontal-specific BPM services- Services that are reasonably similar across industries. Horizontal BPM services include Customer Interaction and Support (CIS), Finance and Accounting (F&A) and other related processing services, Knowledge Services, Human Resource Management (HRM), Procurement BPM, etc.
4) Human Resources Processing- HR processing services includes services that support the core HR activities plus talent management activities and associated business processes such as benefits, payroll and talent management.

The two major export promotion schemes launched under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology are:
 

1) Software Technology Parks (STPs): STP of India was set up as an autonomous body in 1991.
 Some of the benefits offered are:
 a) Customs duty exemption
 b) Accelerated depreciation
 c) 100% FDI permitted through automatic route.

 2) Special Economic Zone (SEZ): They were set up with an objective of providing an international competitiveness. Some of the benefits are:
 a) 100% income tax exemption on export income
 b) Duty free import. Please note that SEZ are for multiple sectors and these benefits extend to sectors other than IT BPM 

For more information, click here.

An entrepreneur can form a Consortium with a Company registered anywhere under Companies Act 1956/2013 which is able to fulfil the other eligibility criteria(s). The eligible Indian Company must have at least 26 % equity shareholder in the Consortium and commit to maintain minimum equity shareholding (26%) for at least three years.