Battery style: The BPO sector has a high rate of attrition (Photo: Reuters)

Anuj Saxena is a typical Mumbai teenager. At 19, he is yet to finish his college, but already has a ?cool? job. He earns Rs 12,000 a month. Enough for him to party hard, wear the trendiest clothes, wield a Nokia cameraphone, and date the smartest girl in the office. But, only when he finds time off from his graveyard shift.

Saxena works with a leading call centre in Mumbai?s call centre hub ? Malad. He assumes an American identity, and logs several calls to the US consumers reminding them of their credit card dues. He is at work when the rest of Mumbai sleeps, and sleeps when the rest of the city is busy at work. His schizophrenic existence barely leaves him with any time to socialise or do anything else.

Saxena is merely one of the estimated 50,000 call centre employees in Mumbai. In business process outsourcing (BPO), arguably the fastest growing industry in India, that?s the story of most youngsters like him. But, help for youngsters like Saxena is not too far away. This week a new support group will be launched in Mumbai to provide support and look at the welfare of call centre employees.

On Friday, the group, Young Professionals Collective (YPC), will organise its first programme to deal with the problems and grievances of call centre employees. Some of Mumbai?s well-known activists, such as trade union activists Datta Iswalkar, Meena Menon, and Neera Adarkar, who recently wrote a book on the socio-economic aspects of the decline of Mumbai?s textile mills, are part of the group.

?The call centre industry is currently a major contributor to the foreign direct investment in India, and is also a major source of employment. But, we have to go beyond mere economic terminology and look at the social aspects of call centre industry. The BPO industry is likely to employ 10 lakh people by 2007. So, we are talking about an entire generation of young people,? says advocate Vinod Shetty, secretary of YPC, at his Bandra office. Shetty, also a known labour lawyer, clarifies that the YPC is not a trade union, but a welfare organisation. ?We had the choice of either organising a trade union for call centre employees or float a welfare organisation, which will serve the interests of this sector. We decided to adopt the non-confrontationist approach,? says Shetty.

The YPC was born out of Shetty?s interaction with close friends who work with the call centre industry, which has changed the topography of Malad in western Mumbai. The suburb has seen a boom of multiplexes, huge shopping malls and beer bars which are open between 6 am to 10 am to cater to call centre employees returning home.

In Malad alone, 20 different call centre companies employ over 25,000 employees. According to Shetty, the call centres are generating a disposable income of upto Rs 30 crore a month and this is directly fuelling a boom in consumerism.

?Our concern is that at an age where you indulge in creative activities that form the foundation of your career, the youngsters are opting out of college. Unable to cope with the lifestyle, they burn out within a year. The attrition rate is high in the BPO sector,? says Shetty.

Two recent incidents highlight the plight of call centre employees. In December, Lucy Wilson, a British girl working with a Mumbai call centre, died mysteriously in a Birmingham hospital two weeks after returning from Mumbai. Her death created a furore in the British media and raised concerns about lack of proper medical advice for expat call centre employees like Wilson.

Earlier this month, the angry protests from the Indian community in the US led to the suspension of two American radio jockeys working with Philadelphia?s Power 99 FM after they spewed racial abuse at an Indian call centre employee. The jockeys at the popular US radio station made a live telephone call to an advertiser of beads. The call was connected to an Indian call centre and was answered by a young girl speaking under the assumed American identity of Steena. When the jockeys realised from her accent that she is not an American, they repeatedly abused her with four-letter words, and called her a ?bitch?, and a ?filthy rat- eater?.

?If you read the transcript, you will see that the Indian girl quietly suffered the severe abuse. The call centre employees have no voice. The YPC is a forum to provide them a voice and allow them to express themselves,? says Shetty.

ON THE AGENDA

The Young Professionals Collective has formulated a unique plan of action. After the group has assessed the problems faced by call centre employees — using a sample survey — the collective will work with BPO companies and the government in resolving issues ranging from better working conditions to alcoholism and drug abuse. The collective will not be merely an academic organisation, but will also work as a cultural forum for the employees to interact with each other. The collective is currently based in Mumbai, but it will form chapters for Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune which have evolved as major hubs of the call centre industry. The collective also plans to host a website which will enable easier access and interaction between its members. Readers can write to YPC at ypcollective@yahoo.com.