Lines creased Suman Devi’s forehead as she furiously typed on her computer. A project associate with a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, the 28-year-old is a pro when it comes to back-office work. Nothing unsual about it except that Suman Devi is a simple village woman from Tikli Akilampur a few km from Gurgaon and was barely literate even a few months ago. But all that changed when the country’s first rural BPO which employs only women set shop in the obscure village. The result: The world opened up for 500 village women like Suman Devi who had never stepped out of their houses till the BPO happened.

The BPO was formally inaugurated by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Rajendra Kataria on Monday. It has been started by a company called `Harva’ which aims at empowering women and harnessing rural values. The BPO project involved an initial investment of Rs 30 lakh and currently has several insurance and legal firms as clients including a US-based company for which data-mining is done by these women. (more…)