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.

Commodity exchanges Q1 turnover sees 24pc growth

The Government measures such as prohibition on futures trading in four commodities soya oil, potato, rubber and channa in May and mark up in transaction cost seems to have not impacted trading. Turnover in 22 commodity exchanges increased 68 per cent to Rs 2.22 lakh crore in the fortnight ended June 30, against Rs 1.31 lakh recorded in the same period last year, according to data released by the market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC). For the first quarter ended June 30, turnover of the 22 exchanges increased 24 per cent to Rs 11.15 lakh crore. The three national commodity exchanges Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), National Commodity & Derivative Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) and National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) contributed Rs 2.19 lakh crore, about 99 per cent of the total turnover of the 22 exchanges.

Birla Sun Life MF launches FTP AZ

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund launched Birla Fixed Term Plan-Series AZ. It is a close end debt scheme. The scheme seeks to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme. It will have dividend and growth option. Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.