The number of direct jobs created by the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) business process outsourcing programme in the first half of the year is much lower than anticipated.
In addition, only two companies have been aided through the BPO programme so far. Treasury has now revised the initial estimate of 10 to two as it does not expect any more firms to be aided by the programme this year.
“The target for companies assisted with the business process outsourcing programme in the first half of 2011/12 is significantly lower than the estimated target for the year as a whole because fewer claims were received than anticipated,” notes Treasury's document.
The DTI introduced an incentive plan in January which pays investors R112 000 over a three-year period for each full-time job created and maintained. The plan replaced the Government Assistance and Support initiative, which was criticised because of the amount of red tape involved in accessing the funds.
Local and foreign investors, registered as legal entities in SA, will be eligible for the programme if they create a minimum of 10 jobs. At the time of its launch, umbrella body Business Process enabling SA said it should create at least 30 000 new jobs in the next five years.
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