NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Thirty-year-old Chandi Mandal is a customer service representative at Aegis, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company in Kolkata, earning Rs8,600 ($133) monthly. Unlike six months ago, today he successfully manages his household expenses.

But things were very different back then. Despite finishing school and college, Mandal couldn’t find stable employment in his village in West Midnapur district of India’s West Bengal state. A congenital disability that prevents him from staying on his feet for more than a few minutes at a stretch ruled out labour-intensive jobs. Besides, Mandal’s two-year-old daughter, too, suffers a similar ailment.

In short, he was desperate.