OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2012. Endeavouring to reach out to smaller cities in India for its further expansion, Aegis, the global business services and experience management company, today opened a state of the art Call Centre in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh as part of the 27 billion dollar Essar Group’s philosophy of doing business in tandem with social touch.

At the outset, Aegis Chhindwara, the second centre in Madhya Pradesh after Bhopal, will operate the most modern centre with initial capacity of 400 seats, a move that would generate close to 1000 direct and indirect jobs to the local youth. Of this, the direct employment will be given to 600 youngsters in the region.

This is the 20th centre of the leading global BPO company Aegis in India, which had clocked revenue of USD 1 billion during 2011-12, and 56thacross the world. The Company provides employment to 55,000 persons through its Centres in 13 nations and this new centre is part of the declared objective of spreading out in tier II and III cities to provide employment to local youth and economic empowerment to the region.

The Call Centre, spread over 1.6 acres, is a modern facility equipped with a fully air-conditioned work environment, a large cafeteria, recreation facilities as well as a training centre for skills development. Though the centre has been launched with an initial capacity of 400 seats, this could be doubled depending upon business requirements.

Inaugurating the Centre, the Union Minister for Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath said "I am excited that Aegis is finally here in Chhindwara, as this creates promising employment opportunities for the youth of this region and this is a very significant step to make Chhindwara a hub for knowledge and skills. The Government is keen to collaborate with private sector organizations that are helping develop economy in small towns and cities of India. Aegis will continue to receive full support from me and I wish them all the best.”

Shri Kamal Nath, who hails from the region, had laid the foundation stone for the Chhindwara Centre in October last year in the presence of Mr. Shashi Ruia, Chairman - Essar Group, and representatives from the local, state and central government bodies.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Anshuman Ruia, Promoter Director – Essar Group, said "The Essar Group has always believed in dreaming big and dreaming new, and this initiative in Chhindwara is the result of our philosophy of doing more for the society. The Experience Centre in a Box will help us accelerate more such centres in many more towns of India. I’m very happy that this dream has been realized at such a pace.”

"Our strategy of moving into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities generates opportunities that are of immense value for the local youth, who otherwise migrate to larger cities in search of employment. Our customers also appreciate the value this brings to them, as we can service their end-customers in their own language as our people are culturally aligned to the regional nuances. I’m certain that Aegis Chhindwara will soon become another epitome of success for the organization,"said Mr.Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis.

Mr.Sudhir Agrawal, Director, Essar Services India Ltd, said, "While traditional job markets in India are showing signs of saturation, a large latent workforce of graduates and post-graduates is ready to be absorbed in semi-urban and rural areas. We are thankful to Mr. Kamal Nath and the district administration without whose support we wouldn’t have been able to realise this dream.”

Aegis Chhindwara is the first centre to come up under the strategic Aegis Elite program, which manages the entire cycle from land acquisition, construction to the extent of ensuring readiness of a pre-fabricated building, process centric high-speed setup to a fit-out taking care of supply chain expertise, ready-to-go modules and a strong IT backbone. Aegis Chhindwara is the very first "Experience centre in the box"and boasts of a world class facility in a Tier 4 town of India.

Aegis is building heavily on its expertise in launching and scaling up centres in smaller towns. Aegis already operates centres in places like Hazira, Srinagar, Bhopal, Jamshedpur and Lucknow. These centres have been very successful in scaling up rapidly and generating significant local employment, thereby acting as a strong catalyst in invigorating local economy. For instance, Aegis Srinagar in just one year has become 500 people strong, while Aegis Jamshedpur, which opened in 2008, is today giving direct employment to 3,000 people.