Lehman Brothers has shifted some call centre operations from Delhi to the US after complaints by the bank's customers about the quality of service of Indian staff.
The development follows a move last month by Dell, the personal computer maker, to relocate some voice-based services from Bangalore, India's information technology capital, to the US, after similar complaints about blurred communications.
This latest development at Lehman Brothers is a minor embarrassment for Indian call centres, whose 60 per cent annual growth in the past three years has fuelled some political hostility overseas as the impact of outsourcing to low-cost locations such as India hits jobs in the US and UK.
India's call centres, dominated by foreign players such as General Electric and American Express, form about a fifth of the country's $10 billion (€8 billion) IT services sector.
In spite of domestic opposition, foreign companies continue to set up operations in India, where savings of 30 per cent are common. Norwich Union was the most recent convert. Last month, the UK insurer said it was cutting about 2,300 jobs in the UK and shifting the work to India. A US newspaper this week reported that IBM was considering shifting the work of some 4,700 staff to India and China.
