NASSCOM, the premier trade body and ‘voice’ of the Indian IT-BPO industry, along with A.T Kearney, has released the findings of a first of its kind report on the assessment of 50 locations in India suitable for the IT - BPO industry titled ‘Location Roadmap For IT- BPO Growth: Assessment Of 50 Leading Cities’. This study provides a detailed gap analysis along with advantages and shortcomings of these 50 locations, the available opportunity for attracting investment from this sector with a deeper objective of showcasing a roadmap to achieve uniform economic development in India. It sets the stage for the next wave of the industry’s growth beyond the top 7 cities.

Ranchi is amongst the 13 cities cited in the report as an aspirant to host the IT-BPO sector. In fact Ranchi is the only city in Jharkhand which has been shown as an aspirant for this. The other 12 cities included in the list of aspirants are : Allabhabad, Dehradun, Durgapur, Gangtok, Guwahati, Ludhiana, Patna, Raipur, Shimla, Siliguri, Srinagar and Varanasi.

It may be mentioned that this sector had attracted only the metro cities initially and later a few other cities also joined in. This provided employment to a large number of people and also helped in improving the overall quality of life and amenities in these cities. However, this has put severe pressure on the infrastructure, cost of living and migration of population from small cities to these cities.

According to NASSCOM this report will define a road map to ensure uniform economic development even to tier 2 & tier 3 cities. It should also help the state governments, educational institutes, policy makers and local industry bodies for their planning.

The study was conducted by collecting and analyzing data from 50 location with the key parameters such as:

• Knowledge pool and skill-set availability
• Infrastructure
• Social and living environment
• Enabling business environment
• Government support
• Operating cost.

- Nasscom