Increasing numbers of UK graduates are being recruited by Indian call centres, according to union officials.
Many UK graduates are opting to take up work while travelling abroad, where they can expect to earn around £350 a month – less than a quarter of the average UK salary.
David Fleming, national secretary for financial services at union Amicus, said: “It’s preposterous. These call centres are encouraging a brain-drain by saying to young graduates ‘why don’t you go to India?’ This is portrayed as a travelling experience. But the truth is the graduates could have spent six months working in a call centre in Britain and earned money to travel around the world that way.”
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One recruitment firm, Launch Offshore, claims it has more than 50 Britons working in Indian call centres and expects to place another 200 next year. Launch Offshore’s managing director Tim Bond told the Daily Mail: “We do not consider this to be exploitation or a gap year. Many people enjoy themselves so much, or even get married in India, that they renew their contracts for three to four years.”
Up to 50,000 UK call centre jobs have been transferred to India over the past two years.
