Opus invests $1million as it inaugurates its second Rural BPO Centre

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Opus Rural Foundation (ORF), announced the inauguration of its second Rural BPO Centre in Dhavalgaon, about 80 kilometers from Pune. Opus has invested $1million towards this initiative and is committed to spending a lot more recurrently.

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This center will provide employment opportunities to youth from adjoining villages while staying close to their families. Set up on 4 acres, this BPO center will initially hire 300 people and gradually increase that number. In line with the Digital India campaign, this initiative will increase digital development by providing jobs to people in rural India. ORF has tied up with Rural shores to run this center.

The social development in Dhavalgaon has received accolades from Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as part of his review of the BPO promotion Scheme of the STPI.

With over two decades of experience, Opus has been a pioneer in the payments technologies with many firsts including omnichannel payment gateway, credit card processing and biometric ATM Switch implementations in over 30 countries.  Opus Consulting Solutions Inc. (OCS), a subsidiary of Opus, is based out of Atlanta in the US and is focused on the transformation of legacy payments systems using modern technologies such as AI/Machine Learning, Blockchain and Microservices for customers in the US market.  OCS is currently the partner of choice for the top 20 global payments corporations in the US for their payment system transformation and has built innovative solutions around Biometric Authentication, Intelligent Fraud detection, Voice based commerce and Real-time Settlement. Opus has an incubation center in Pune for startups in the retail and payments technology space and has made investments in 5 entities in the space. In 2014, MasterCard acquired Opus’ erstwhile product division ElectraCard Services to offer an end-to-end solution to MasterCard customers and this year Western Union set up its Technology Engineering Centre in Pune with a core team from Opus Software Technologies.

Additionally, this center will also serve as a crop science helpline, which will enable farmers from rural Maharashtra to seek help in getting information about the harvesting of certain crops, using fertilizers and for the use of digital media to maximize productivity. ORF is also setting up a digitally enabled library for the benefit of farmers at this center and is helping primary schools in the area to upgrade their infrastructure.

Ramesh Mengawade, Executive Chairman at Opus said, “It is important to augment farming income in rural areas with other earning opportunities for the youth in their native place. The main aim of this initiative is to create employment for the local youth in smaller, more remote villages and help in their overall growth and development. We are delighted that this project will help with the digitalization of India’s rural economy. In addition, Opus Rural Foundation is committed to making an impact in select villages by providing skill development and self-employment opportunities. We will also work with Village Panchayats for the use of digital technologies to improve the lives of farmers.”

ORF on a continuous basis supports schools in rural areas go digital, helps train rural youth with new skills and promotes green initiatives such as afforestation. The first center by ORF was set up in 2011 and has since brought about employment for more than 500 youth from time to time.