Elamkunnapuzha Grama Panchayat is the largest Grama Panchayat in terms of size and population in Kerala. It is 15 kilometers from my Panampilly Nagar home. What more, we trace back 6 generations to Elamkunnapuzha.

1. BPO & Skill Development for
Elamkunnapuzha Grama Panchayat
CustomerLine
Rural BPO Solutions
Rajesh Venugopal
Managing Director
Customer Line Private Ltd
www.customerline.in
rajeshv@customerline.in
+91 98460 06416

2. Background
• Established domestic BPO/Call Centre
player in Kerala (Ernakulam) since
2001.
• Active Customers: Kalyan Jewellers,
Grand Kerala Shopping Festival 2011,
Geojit BNP Paribas, Tata Teleservices,
Chief Minister’s Office
• Talking to Govt to be part of PURA –
Govt Call Centres.
• Presence in Anthikad Grama
Panchayat
• Right now, Rural BPO is my passion

3. 06/22/12 www.customer-line.com 3

4. Team Work essential part of work
06/22/12 www.customer-line.com 4

5. Idea Cellular – Prepaid inbound
06/22/12 www.customer-line.com 5

6. Past Projects
06/22/12 www.customer-line.com 6

7. Grand Kerala Shopping Festival 2011 – Order taking
06/22/12 www.customer-line.com 7

8. Sales Lead Generation

9. Grand Kerala Shopping Festival 2012
Order taking & fulfillment in 15 D.O’s

10. Loyalty Cards & rewards program
administration

11. Manpower Challenges in Kerala
• Since 2007 skilled people are very scarce in Cities
(Infopark, Technopark have grown)
• Infrastructure costs have zoomed up
• Living costs have gone up
• Consequently, Salary levels have gone up
• High Attrition rate
• Most are outside the State or Country, leaving
few people to contribute positively to the State
Economic Output
• It is fact that our people are weak in soft & hard
skills

13. Making a difference by creating jobs in
marginal areas

14. PURA
• Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas
• Vision of Former President of India - Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam
• Bridging Rural Divide
• PPP Model
• Partnership with a local panchayat
• Inkel Ltd (51% GoK & rest NRKs)
• Thirurangadi & Thalikulam

15. Thanniyam Experience
• First 3 months – chaos as usual.
• Undergraduates were a mistake
• Graduates 30 plus, married, NRI
spouses is working well
• Low attrition – people want a job within
5 kms radius.
• Self esteem enhancer – learning on the
job computer skills, earning from a BPO
as against a retail shop
• Interference from locals, poor work
ethic, Fragile ego
• Nevertheless, very fulfilling experience

16. Thanniyam BPO

17. Thanniyam’s loss was Anthikad’s gain.

19. PURA THIRURANGADI-SNAPSHOT
1. MORD 1. NON MORD 1. ADD ON
SCHEMES SCHEMES
SCHEMES
• Water supply • Village street light- 1. Boating Club
Solar 2. Bus Terminal
• Village roads • Rural BPO
• Village • Strengthening of
Drains Market Infrastructure
• Solid Waste
• Sustainability Management
of Water • Establishment of
Source Trauma centre
• Coconut Processing
• Solid Waste Unit
Management • Apparel Park
• Skill • Cold Storage
Development

20. Rural Challenges
• Irregular power and poor / unreliable telecom facilities
• Virtual absence of computer literate staff
• Getting people with Supervisory skills.
• Transportation difficulties from neighboring villages
• Lack of skills required by industry – soft skills / Customer
Orientation.
• Intermediate / degree holders are unable to get a job in a 4
km radius.
• Poor Work ethic, Fragile Ego, making a big issue of small
things, inability to work in teams, will not accept a neighbour
as a supervisor
• Poor command over English, Hindi
• Risk over time – there could be attraction of higher salaries in
metros for trained personnel

21. Capability Assessment Rural Vs Urban
Area Rural Average (%) Urban Average (%)
Logical Reasoning 70.5 73.0
Analytical Ability 68.0 70.0
Language and 65.0 80.0
Communication
Subject Rural Average (%) Urban Average (%)
English 59.8 70.1
Maths Correlate to 53.5 55.2
analytical
Physics and 36.7 39.2
Chemistry reasoning 36.9 41.4
aptitude
Source - GramIT

22. Our plan for EKP
• Select about 10-15 ladies
•Invite them to Tata Tele, Palarivattom Office have an
overview of Tata Docomo product range, tariff plans
•Put them through assessments, group discussions
•Select the best 10 out of them
• Create a core team who will lead our initiatives in
the region

23. We are part of a noble mission, that
lives beyond us,
G. Achuta Menon from North Paravur.
Founder Chairman, Customer Line Private Ltd.
Son of a school teacher, Menon was a determined individual. He went
to Harvard University to do his MBA. He was Chairman of 14 Companies
around the world with a turnover of US$2.5 Billion. UST Global a
Company he initiated in Kerala now employs 8500 people.