A paradox is playing out
in India’s job market: the more educated one is, the more difficult it is to
get hired.
According to Kotak
Institutional Equities Report (2019), unemployment rate is highest among youth
with education: diploma (37%); graduate (36%) and post graduate and above (36%).
This shows the lack of opportunities for a higher skilled workforce in India.
As the job market in
India is competitive, especially for young people, an offer of a lucrative
career in a call centre becomes enticing – even if the work means operating a
scam.
Poonam, author of ‘Dreamers:
How Young Indians Are Changing the World’, investigated the call centres in
Delhi and found job advertisements with a mix of keywords that seemed designed
for the ambitious young jobseeker: International BPO (business process outsourcing company); zero years’ experience;
40% English required; fast career growth... "They won't give you the name
of the call centre - they will tell you're going to work at Amazon or Samsung.”
“But you're actually
going to work at a completely nowhere company at a nowhere place in Delhi. All
there is a few mobile phones and a few computers and you will be calling people
in New Zealand, America, Canada and the UK telling them that their computer has
been attacked with a virus," says Poonam.
Many young people leave
within a week, or two months on average. After leaving, a number said they felt
guilty, but others make a career of it, leaving only to start their own scam.
Piyush is one of those
who started his own scam company. When he first started out, Piyush was paid
one rupee for every dollar he made in sales. For a $100 dollar scam, he'd only
get $1.25. But once he became the boss the money flooded in. Some "lucky
months" he took home $50,000. “I was making more money than an MBA
graduate,” he claimed.
BBC Stories: Spying On The Scammers
Outsourcing call centres
from India is no longer a new story. In January, the U.S. filed lawsuits
against five companies (mostly from India) who were responsible for making
hundreds of millions of fake robocalls to Americans, causing massive financial
losses to the elderly and the vulnerable.
Scammers would claim
they are from the banks, IRS, technical support, charities, and others. (In
Malaysia, Mahkamah Tinggi or Polis Diraja). Public should be aware of these
scam calls. Do not engage with the caller. Hang up immediately and report the
suspicious call to the Police. And do not disclose personal or financial data,
such as your credit card account number.
For India, the
Government needs to tackle the reasons behind the jobless growth. The Government
could increase cooperation with states to monitor job growth: Which states have
a higher growth rate? Which have lower? The employment data in each state
should always be recorded and compared with each other. This could help the government focus on
states that lag behind in terms of ease of doing business. India should
perhaps shed its service-led structure and transform into an innovation-driven
economy and focus on becoming a creator rather than an adopter. It should also
aim to focus on becoming an export-driven economy, leading to more opportunities
for young people and hence reduce the unemployment rate.
Scams are not peculiar
to India but prevalent in many parts of the world including China, Nigeria,
Philippines, Malaysia amongst others. Those who fall for scams are either the gullible
or the greedy!
Reference:
2.
Snigdha Poonam, The
scammers gaming India’s overcrowded job market, 2 Jan 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/
5. Koustav Das, Budget 2019: Can Nirmala Sitharaman solve
India's job crisis? 25 June 2019, https://www.indiatoday.in/
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