In Kashmir, youth find a new calling

The Valley gets its first call centre, opening up new avenues for youngsters.

Youngsters in trouble-torn Kashmir now have a new option — working at Kashmir’s first call centre.

The centre, located in Srinagar, is the result of a tie-up between Silicon Valley Technopolis Solutions (SVTS) and US call centre giant Public Soft. About half of its employees are girls, some absolutely new to the call centre culture. “Call centres are a Rs 85,000 crore business in India, and provide 11 lakh jobs. Unfortunately, J&K had missed out on this boom. Now we have made a beginning, and the response is tremendous,” says Farooq Muzaffar, one of the directors at SVTS, which has also set up an academy to train freshers.

The call centre has also attracted professionals from other parts of the country. “I used to work at a call centre in Noida before shifting to Srinagar. This place is at par with call centres in other states,” says Altaf Jameel, a BCom student who works at SVTS.

Sofia, who worked at a call centre in Delhi before joining SVTS, heads all its operations in Kashmir. “People here are very enthusiastic, and they have a good command over English,” she says. Because of the volatile situation, the call centre is open only during the day now, handling domestic processes. “We will cater to international processes in a month’s time,” says an optimistic Farooq.