BPO industry faces backlash of Mira road call centre scam

MUMBAI: With news of the infamous Mira Road call centre scam spreading across continents, several IT and related firms in the business process outsourcing industry are facing the brunt of angry consumers abroad while others experienced attrition.
Many BPOS in and around the city are now dealing with suspicious customers from the US, Singapore, UK and Canada, who are turning impatient and even abusive after they sense the caller is from India.Sushil Modi, founder and CEO of Pune-based recruiting firm iTek Focal Solutions Pvt Ltd, said, “This has affected the reputation of all other call centres in India and given the world a bad impression. We deal with consulting, staff augmentation and other work for multiple clients from Singapore, Malaysia and even within the country. Ever since news of the Mira Road call centre scam broke, our clients have become sceptical about the minutest details including licences or other documents, which was not the case earlier. It has also posed a threat to the number of new employees as not many are applying for call centre jobs now.”
“I work for a UK-based telecom service call centre in Mumbai, which has nothing to do with money or looting people. Despite this a few members of my team who were on dialler duty had phones slammed down on them with comments like ‘stop calling me you cheats’, ‘are you not satisfied with your loot’. It is really disheartening,” said Animesh Pardeshi (24), a Lokhandwala resident.
The arrests of employees in the Mira Road scandal and increasing hostility from clients abroad has also led many youths to quit their jobs at these firms. Ravi Patil, the team leader of an Andheri-based call centre added, “Many youngsters are now leaving the centre as they are afraid they will be behind bars. Despite explaining to them the difference between the work of the Mira Road centres and our work, five people have already resigned as they didn’t want to take any risk. The BPO industry has been a go-to place for youth to get goofy salaries for easy work. This incident is affecting us.”
Aliasgar Bohari, an IT professional who has worked in various call centres in the past 12 to 13 years, said, “Over the past few years there has been a growing bias against Indian call centres. This incident is fairly recent, but once awareness about it spreads abroad, the backlash will increase.”
“The case is damaging the reputation of the country’s IT sector. Hopefully, our prompt action in this matter will remove the anti-social elements, thus restoring faith in the IT sector here,” Thane police commissioner Param Bir Singh told TOI.