Indian BPO boom seems to be over

For the first time the BPOs in India are conducting large-scale lay offs and the industry agrees that with the US economy slowing down India''s call centre boom may finally be over.Gurgaon''s call centres have for years been the first choice of college graduates, who don''t mind odd hours, in exchange for quick money. But now the dream run is being replaced by a reality check. Rajeev, a Senior Customer Care Executive at Convergys has worked at five different call centres in the last seven years. He''s looking for a change again, but this time not out of choice. Rajeev is one of the 450 employees fired in the last two weeks by a Gurgaon BPO called 24/7 Customers. Reason being that this UK-based mobile phone company has decided to cut back its India operations.In a written statement, the company said that all affected employees have been provided the option of continuing at other centres like Hyderabad and Bangalore. For those who do not wish to relocate, the company would assist in finding job with other call centres.But that isn''t reassuring for an industry where job security has always been taken for granted. Umar, a team Leader at 24/7 Customer, I need to feed my family, that is the most important thing. People are ready to relocate to Hyderabad, but they are rejecting people like anything. The orange crisis has led to lay offs at two other Call Centres, Convergys and EXL services. And this comes after 400 people were let go last month by another BPO giant, Keane India, after a merger and a scaling down of size.