At the end of the line Next time you phone a call centre , your customer service adviser could be talking to you from India . Helen Taylor looks at how companies are increasingly farming out their operations abroad , all in the name of cost cutting . The chief executive of HSBC bank , Sir Keith Whitson , caused uproar recently when he said he would rather use call centre workers in India than those in Britain . He claimed that workers in Asia are smartly dressed , enthusiastic , more efficient and are often graduates . of course , he may also have been persuaded by the fact that wages in India are about 4$ a day , which is more like the hourly rate over here . The bank already has 3,100 call centre staff in Asia answering calls from British customers , and it expects to increase that to 4,500 by the end of the year . With wages so low , the additional cost of redirecting phone calls to India is easily met . And HSBC isn't the only company to be looking East . British Airways , Zurich Insurance , GE and others have all sent their call centre services overseas. The public service workers' union , UNISON , is concerned by Thames Water's recent decision to export its call centre services , probably to India, in an attempt to reduce its overall costs . The company plans to cut 150 jobs initially , adding that a possible 1000 staff could be affected in some way in the future . " The proposal to transfer these jobs out of the UK is very worrying indeed " said UNISON regional officer , Ron Harley . " This is a slap in the face for our members who have worked tirelessly to improve services to customer over many years” ut in spite of job losses in the industry , with BT alone axing more than two thousand posts earlier this year , call centres remain a major employer in Britain . One job in 50 in Britain is currently in a call centre , which is expected to rise to one in 30 in the next five or six years . And that is in spite of serious concerns about working conditions in the industry , with complaints about stress , bullying and unreasonable workloads. In India , however , call centre work is seen as highly desirable . With school teachers earning just 50$ a month , call centre wages of double that are seen as attractive . This means the industry attracts the young , well-educated , middle classes who are eager to work in a clean and modern environment . A recent BBC Radio 4 programme , India Calling , how may I help ?, described the great lengths that would-be employees in India have to go to in order to work in a British call centre . Many pay a massive 200$ for a three week training course on the finer points of British culture , such as which Spice Girl married David Beckham and the plot of East Enders. They are also taught how to 'neutralize' their accents to suit a British audience and some adopt English names..