Empey welcomes Indian investment

Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment, has welcomed the decision by HCL Technologies Ltd of India to locate the European headquarters of its subsidiary E-Serve in Belfast.

The deal, which will involve the company’s acquisition of the BT Customer Contact Centre at Apollo Road, was described by the Minister as a major endorsement of Northern Ireland as a base for Customer Contact Centres.

He added: "HCL Technologies is one of India’s largest IT companies and is our first investor from that market.

"The company is a global IT leader with operations in the USA, Europe and Asia and its investment here represents a further strengthening of Northern Ireland's reputation as an international customer contact centre location which has already seen it attract investors such as Halifax, Acer, Teletech, Abbey National and the Prudential.

"HCL is committed to working in a strategic partnership with BT in developing the Apollo Road facility in terms of its services and employment and I welcome BT’s continuing involvement in the drive to expand the number of customer contact centres in Northern Ireland.”

E-Serve, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the $1.7billion company HCL Technologies Ltd, will focus on business services such as transaction processing, accounting and human resource’s from their new Belfast premises. (MB)