British insurance major opening call centre in Bangalore

Wednesday, 12 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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LONDON: One of Britain's biggest insurance firms is opening a new call centre in India in a move that could bring a new wave of this business. The Aviva company, which owns the giant insurance firm Norwich Union, plans to open a new call centre in Bangalore by the end of the year. Richard Harvey, group chief executive of Aviva, said: "Aviva is a global company, employing 64,000 people around the world. "We are operating in an increasingly competitive environment and need to explore opportunities to improve our efficiency, while delivering high levels of service to our customers. Developing administrative capability in India is part of this process." Aviva also announced plans to develop a claims processing operation for its general insurance business in India. "This move will give the group's British general insurance business extra flexibility and capacity, while providing further scope to enhance efficiency and deliver a high level of service to customers," the company said in a statement. Aviva's existing activity in India includes a life assurance joint venture launched in 2002. The company already outsources claims administrative services and software development work to firms operating in India. The new operation will employ around 1,000 people by the end of this year, and will form part of Norwich Union's general insurance network of call and claims centres. "By taking advantage of the time difference, the company will extend its capacity for round-the-clock claims processing, which will help improve service to customers," the company said in its statement. In an attempt to play down fears of lost jobs in Britain, the company said "the majority of jobs in India will arise from staff vacancies and anticipated turnover in Norwich Union's general insurance business in the U.K." The company plans to use its natural turnover and internal staff transfers in Britain to minimise any compulsory redundancies. Aviva will assess during the year what application offshore operations could have in other parts of its business. That could lead to an increased presence in India in following years. The company has about 30,000 employees in Britain, including about 3,000 based at call centres in Perth and Bishopbriggs in Scotland, Norwich and Sheffield. India's call centre industry employs over 100,000 workers, with costs being a fraction of those in Britain. Some financial analysts say a fifth of all insurance call centre jobs in Britain will be outsourced to India by 2010.
Source: IANS
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