Firstsource has announced plans to create additional jobs in Northern Ireland.

"We started operations here two years ago in October 2006. We now have over 600 staff in Derry and [the] announcement of 160 jobs will bring it up to around 800. The staff have done a phenomenal job over the last two years with the customer, and we have a very positive relationship with the customer," said Shaun Harnett, a Firstsource manager.

The Indian-BPO attributes its hiring spree to a successful relationship with Sky.

"What's working for us in this relationship is the ability to hit targets every month for the last two years. I do think there is a significant difference here. The people are very friendly and are committed to the job. We've had a lot of people coming to us and what we are looking for are people with an ability to talk - something the people in Derry are good at," added Harnett.

Firstsource opened its first office in 2006 and employs 550 individuals in Belfast. The new positions will be filled in the Londonderry facility, which is staffed by more than 600 workers. An increasing number of Indian companies have chosen Northern Ireland as their European base, including HCL, Polaris, Pix Transmission and Tech Mahindra.

As IT Examiner previously reported, India is second only to the US in terms of IT investment in Northern Ireland. US cumulative investment is near $2 billion, with participation from companies like SAP, Microsoft, Fujitsu, HP, Oracle, Dupont, Citigroup and Seagate.

"Investors are in a cautious mood, even though the impact on the IT sector is yet to be felt. In such a situation, we will certainly look at the option of giving bigger incentives on a case to case basis, there are also tax credits, which is much more for R&D establishments," pledged Bill Montgomery, director of the international investment division of Invest Northern Ireland (INI).

The government of Northern Ireland has formulated multiple incentives for its domestic companies, such as a monetary package to cope up with the credit crunch. In addition, the country supports the costs of initial set-up for overseas corporations. X

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