KARACHI: Poor global image and lack of branding are the basic impediments faced by Pakistan in attracting Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and despite a huge potential in the country, regional competitors like India and the Philippines are capturing the $45 billion BPO market.

This was the crux of a presentation on ‘How The Resource Group (TRG) Pakistan Ltd bas become a success story, a Pakistan’s case study’ by TRG’s Country Manager Pakistan Nadeem Elahi here on Thursday.

“Business Process Outsourcing is a viable solution to employing our skilled youth,” Nadeem Elahi, who is also TRG’s Managing Director, said. “But BPO in Pakistan is facing problems like poor image of the country in the world and infrastructure problems.”

The BPO industry provides a variety of outsourcing services such as customer care, payroll processing and other administrative functions primarily related to large-scale service-based organisations such as financial institutions and telecom companies.

The worldwide BPO market is worth around $45 billion with India holding a huge 70 per cent share. Indian information technology and BPO exports are worth over $30 billion per annum and it employs a big number of skilled workers.

“Poor global image of Pakistan is our serious problem, and its proximity to Afghanistan, especially after 9/11, has badly damaged the image of the country worldwide. On the other hand, Pakistan has made absolutely no efforts to create brands,” he added.

Pakistan has the potential to capture the BPO market, which is supported by sufficient English-speaking youngsters. Though the country is a new entrant, it has an edge over India as the Indian labour pool has now reached the saturation point.