Government To Amend BPO Laws To Boost Investments
 
 In a recent announcement, the Government said that it would soon bring in amendments in the existing legislations dealing with the BPO industry to inspire confidence among investors and silence the detractors. Within the next few months, the Government will remove all the lacunae in laws covering the BPO industry, especially regarding data protection to inspire confidence among investors.

Since BPO is the fastest growing segment in the ITeS industry with an export turnover of $3.6 billion in 2003-04, there are many detractors attempting to inhibit its growth by saying the laws dealing with the sector are inadequate. Kiran Karnik, president of National Association of Software and Services Companies said data privacy, network security and intellectual property rights are the biggest challenges facing the BPO industry. 

The laws covering BPO need to be strengthened with cases of misuse of data, identity thefts and hacking coming to light he said, adding BPO industry should follow "trustworthy sourcing" practices, which are reliable and superior in quality. Judiciary and police should be updated about the changes so that they are not 'mystified' by the cases of identity thefts, hacking and spamming.

Jesmine