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Friends Provident to hire a further 250 in India

Date: Thu, 04 Mar 04 Analysis

BANGALORE, IN - Friends Provident, the UK-based life insurer, has revealed plans to increase its share in the term life insurance market in India by hiring as many as 250 people in the subcontinent by the end of the year.

With an already 150-strong workforce in back-office processing operations based in the southern city of Bangalore, the company revealed it is hoping to employ some 400 by the close of 2004.

Friends Provident hired the Indian company Wipro in 2001 in order to keep pace with a growing number of IT projects following its flotation in June of the same year by rewriting systems to reflect the company's demutualised status.

Last year, the company added a further 100 employees to their Indian workforce, sparking criticism from the finance sector union Amicus over concerns that the Friends Provident UK workforce might suffer.

The company joins a long list of UK and US firms that are seeking to offshore jobs to areas renowned for their abundance of cheap and highly skilled labour, with a growing backlash from many unions concerned over the impact of the job market they leave behind.

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Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. This can be checked on the FSA Register by visiting its web site at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.
Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited. Company No: 856706 registered in England at Shurdington Road, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire GL51 4UE.