Call centre 'creating 1,000 jobs'

One of the centres will be based in Belfast

An Indian call centre company is to create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next two years, Secretary of State Peter Hain has announced.

ICICI OneSource handles calls and administration for clients in the financial services, telecommunications and health care sectors.

One centre will open in Belfast next month, while the company is considering a number of locations for the second.

The government expects a £28m economic boost from the investment by 2008.

Speaking at the headquarters of Invest NI, which has backed the investment, Mr Hain said the move supported the findings of a recent report suggesting Northern Ireland was the number-one location for contact centres in the UK.

"The increasing number of commitments made by global companies, including ICICI OneSource, demonstrates the growing worldwide recognition of Northern Ireland as a value-for-money location with a highly skilled, talented workforce," he added.

Trade mission

Mr Hain said the investment followed a trade mission he led to India earlier this year when he met bosses at the company.

ICICI OneSource is one of India's leading business process outsourcing companies, currently employing more than 8,000 staff at 10 centres in the US and India.

Chief Executive Ananda Mukerji said: "Our Northern Ireland centres will be our first outsourcing operation based in Europe.

"We have a strong market presence in the UK and we see significant demand for high-end business processing which our Northern Ireland centres will be ideally placed to fulfil."