According to reports, the government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has revealed a special policy offering capital and training subsidy to rural business process outsourcing (BPO) units.

While Tamil Nadu is an important Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub, the BPO industry's presence is mainly limited to Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore.

With the ICT industry now expanding to smaller cities, towns and into villages the state government felt the need for a comprehensive Rural BPO policy to increase employment opportunities in the rural areas.

The decision seeks deepen penetration of the sector in the state, specific policy initiatives to attract BPO units to rural areas are necessary.

The Tamil Nadu government IT department will facilitate the process by liaising with interested institutions wishing to pursue a partnership with BPO units.

Also, a subsidy of 15% would be supplied on capital investments such as cost of hardware and equipment to any rural BPO unit that had been functioning at least three years and directly employing a minimum of 100 trained people.

New rural BPO units needing to train its operational staff, a training subsidy of Rs 1500 per month per person for three months would be provided by the government.

The policy anticipates will promote entrepreneurship amongst rural youth benefiting faculty and students of educational institutions.