Indian company plans to create jobs in Middlesbrough

Jun 10 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

A CALL centre giant has unveiled plans to create 500 North East jobs just weeks after the region's biggest contact centre operator, Garlands, collapsed and more than 1,100 workers were made redundant.

Indian outsourcing company Firstsource Solutions’s decision to open a centre in Middlesbrough has been widely welcomed after Hartlepool-based Garlands went into administration last month after losing two massive contracts.

And the announcement came on the day Barclaycard revealed it was in talks over the possibility of hiving-off the operation of its Stockton call centre, which employs 700 staff, to Firstsource.

Firstsource’s decision to move into the North East was made after it was promised a £1.9m grant from regional development agency One North East, secured with help from Newcastle-based corporate finance specialist unw.

Matthew Vallance, managing director of Firstsource, said: “We are delighted that the latest phase of our UK expansion will be located in Middlesbrough which promises to be a highly favourable location for us.

“Our UK business is continuing to show robust growth and the new Middlesbrough centre will complement our existing UK and international operations.”

The company, based in Mumbai, has its UK base in London and currently employs almost 2,000 people in Northern Ireland.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon said: “It is great news that Firstsource has recognised Middlesbrough as the ideal location for the latest phase in their expansion.

“The creation of 300 jobs in the first instance, and a further 200 jobs in the future will have a significant impact on the town.

“ This is also very welcome in the wake of the loss of more than 1,000 jobs at Garlands, which was a huge blow to the Teesside area.”