AFTER years in which British companies have outsourced jobs to India, the tide turned yesterday when it was announced that the subcontinent’s biggest outsourcing company plans to develop two centres in Northern Ireland.

ICICI OneSource, a backoffice services specialist, outlined plans to strengthen its British operations in one of the most significant attempts by an offshore outsourcer to take on UK-based rivals on their own patch.

The company said that it would create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next two years, with plans for two outsourcing centres. The new offices will largely handle call- centre work on behalf of British and European clients that do not want to shift such functions to the sub-continent.

Matthew Vallance, ICICI OneSource’s managing director in Europe, said that the launch formed part of plans to create a global network of outsourcing locations. “Technically it would be possible (to do all call-centre work in India), but some of our clients want some parts of their work handled close to home,” he said.

Outsourcing groups based in Britain have been driving rapid growth in their offshore operations, in countries including India, to provide clients with an option to complete portions of work in the UK and portions in lower-cost locations, such as Eastern Europe and India.

Although most of the large offshore groups have sales offices in the UK, most back-office work is carried out offshore.

The Northern Ireland centres, the first to be based in Belfast and a second at a site in the province’s northwest, will be ICICI OneSource’s first operations centres in the UK. It is also the first time that an Indian outsourcer has developed such a centre itself.