The Indian BPO industry is putting a self-regulatory body to monitor security and Data privacy in an attempt to deal with concerns over security and privacy of data being farmed out to outsourcing firms in India are snowballing into a crisis, and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to step in to assure the global community after the alleged sale of classified information by a call centre employee, Karan Bahree.

To be initially set up by industry body Nasscom, the regulatory body is envisaged to evolve into a fully independent entity later. The plan is to model the body along the lines of the direct marketing association (DMA), its structure is expected to be ready in 4-6 months.

"We expect law firms to be on board within a week or two, and the guidelines outlining its structure should be out in three to four months," confirmed Nasscom research head Sunil Mehta. The guidelines will then be circulated among BPO companies before the self-regulatory body is finally formed.