The BPO division of Infosys Technologies, Infosys BPO, has taken steps to reduce variable costs and accelerate staff redeployment by terminating the services of over 600 contract workers in February, according to sources close to the development. The workers, who were on multi-year contracts, included temporary workers, whose exact numbers are not clear. Simultaneously, Infosys BPO is adding another 2,000 workers by the end of March, which will raise its headcount above the 20,000 mark from around 18,000 at present.

A company spokesperson, however, maintained that employees on the direct rolls of Infosys BPO had not been laid off. “As a matter of principle, Infosys does not believe in layoffs. In fact, we are further expanding our headcount in line with growth imperatives amid the global recession,” the spokesperson said, claiming to be unaware of any BPO arm’s contractor carrying out layoffs.

HR industry sources, however, confirmed the development. Contractors catering to Infosys’ staffing needs include Adecco PeopleOne, Mafoi and TeamLease. (more…)

India’s BPO industry defended itself after a BBC sting alleged misuse of confidential credit-card information of British customers by a Delhi-based person with links to a call centre.

“We don’t stand for fraud and misuse of information,” said Raman Roy, chairman, Quattro BPO Solutions. “But it’s almost vindictive, unless all facts are in place and his identity and linkage to a call centre is established.” Roy, who earlier ran Wipro Spectramind and is a pioneer of the outsourced services industry, said India accounted for a minuscule percentage of the overall fraud amounting to $6 billion. “Linking the fraud to India is stretching it a bit too far,” he said.

Indian call-centre operations face criticism on data privacy, but its opponents say the country is also targeted by those who do not like the loss of BPO jobs in developed economies.Sachar apparently agreed to supply the undercover reporters hundreds of credit- and debit-card details each week at $10 dollars a card. “He claimed some of the numbers had been obtained from call centres handling mobile phone sales or phone bill payments,” the BBC report said. (more…)