A £1.9 million investment by one of India’s leading global IT companies, HCL BPO, will see the firm's call centre expand with the creation of 250 jobs.

The Invest NI backed expansion will see the company's Belfast operation increased to cater for existing and new clients.

Invest NI is providing £625,000 in selective financial assistance and £295,000 for further training through the Company Development Programme.

Making the announcement, Economy Minister, Barry Gardiner, said:

“This investment is especially significant as it reverses the trend. Many similar call centres have relocated outside Northern Ireland. Here we have a leading company from India investing in Northern Ireland. HCL’s global strategy is to increase its business in Europe and the US. This further consolidates Belfast as its key European base. It will provide good quality, knowledge-based jobs in a New Targeting Social Need area. It will offer recruits and existing employees extensive training opportunities.

“As Northern Ireland’s first inward investment from India, HCL has become a successful role model for other Indian technology-driven companies seeking an attractive location to develop business within the newly enlarged European Union. As such, Invest NI is proactively seeking to attract new investment and secure further strategic alliances through the ‘Opportunity India’ campaign.”

Mr Narasimhan, Chief Operating Officer, HCL in Belfast, said: “We are expanding services in Belfast to enable us to develop opportunities that we have identified in European markets, especially Great Britain, for a quality provider of contact services to major clients in the retail, banking and commercial sectors. In addition to the scope that it will provide for further growth, the expansion is required to service a series of recent business contracts for a number of major new clients. We are grateful to Invest NI for the role it played in helping secure this particular contract.

Mr Narasimhan said that the increased Belfast operation was an integral part of the firm's business development strategy which he said would offer clients a "particularly cost-effective delivery of contact services".

He added that the strategy would enable clients to access higher value added services from Belfast, together with those from lower cost centres in India.