London: Perturbed over grim projections of job losses touching a staggering two lakh in coming years as
a result of 'outsourcing' by big companies in London, a direct beneficiary being call centres in India,
Britain's trade unions are gearing up for a spate of countrywide protests.
Drastic cut in costs in the range of 30 to 70 per cent, a better quality in services and stiff competition are
pushing more and more companies to establish their call centres in India.
"When people lose jobs, you will find them protesting. This is a normal process inherited from
globalisation," says noted industrialist Lord Swraj Paul.
Observing that the Government was not directly involved in this, he said in all probability, the situation
would work itself out. "It evolves around more and more
competition. The sooner this sinks in, the better it will be for the affected companies," he said.
But others do not share this view. "The unions are loud about the problem of outsourcing. It is becoming
one of the biggest issues," Robert Blackhurst, editor-in-chief at the Foreign Policy Centre, told a group
of visiting Indian journalists.
HSBC has already spoken about plans to employ 8,000 people in India, China and Malaysia in the
coming few months. Telecom giant BT is contemplating creating 2,200 new call centre posts in India and
insurance company Aviva proposes to set up a 1000-strong call centre and claims-processing unit in
India.
Analyst Key Note predicted one lakh of the existing six lakh call centre jobs disappearing between now
and the end of 2008.
Consultants Deloitte and Touche projected India as the main beneficiary of an expected outsourcing of
two million jobs, mainly related to administrative and technology spheres,
in the next five years.
UK-based IT group Logica CMG plans to go in for an expansion programme in outsourcing in India in a
big way. It already employs 350 people in Bangalore, developing software and providing customers with
telephone and Internet support.
"The company will employ at least 1,500 in India by 2005," its managing director of global outsourcing
Bob Fawthrop was quoted as saying.
"We will use a blend of different people to offer the cheapest cost. There is no risk to the customer. It is
our risk," he said.
PTI
