Permanent work from home for these industries, govt eases guidelines

Under the OSP guidelines of the DoT, the registration requirement for OSPs has been done away with altogether and the BPO industry engaged in data related work have been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations.

NEW DELHI: In a massive reform for the tech industry, which will facilitate permanent work from home for IT and BPO companies employees, the government on Thursday (November 6) done away with most of registration and compliance requirements. 

The new rules for will create a friendly-regime for work from home and work from anywhere, while removing several reporting and other obligations for such companies. It is aimed at providing a strong impetus to the industry and positioning India as one of the most competitive IT jurisdictions in the world, an official release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Centre was committed to doing everything possible to ensure a conducive environment for growth and innovation in India, as the government announced simplified guidelines for the BPO industry and IT-enabled services. "The BPO industry engaged in data-related work is out of the ambit of OSP regulations," Modi said in a series of tweets.

The comments come soon after the Ministry of Communications announced the simplified guidelines for business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services (ITES) players to reduce the compliance burden for the industry.

"Committed to furthering 'Ease of Doing Business' and making India a tech hub!" Modi tweeted. "GoI has significantly simplified Other Service Provider (OSP) guidelines of the Telecom Department. Compliance burdens of BPO industry will be greatly reduced due to this."

"Many other requirements have been done away with. These steps will further flexibility and productivity," he said.
OSPs are entities providing applications, IT-enabled or any kind of outsourcing services using telecom resources. The term refers to BPOs, KPOs (knowledge process outsourcing), ITES, call centres, among others.

"India's IT sector is our pride and the prowess of this sector is recognised globally," Modi said. "We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure a conducive environment for growth and innovation in India. Today's decisions will especially encourage young talent in the sector!"

Union minister for electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad also tweeted that the Govt has taken a major reform initiative to liberalize the regulatory regime for OSPs. "This will boost the IT/ ITeS/ BPO industry and create a friendly regime for Work from Home in India. #DigitalIndia."