British firm shuts shop in Bangalore

BANGALORE: British telecom firm Belair Communications Pvt Ltd has closed its

captive call center here abruptly sacking all its 93 employees.






The company began operations a year ago, but did not cite any reason for the
pulling down its shutters. The union for ITES professionals (UNITES), has lodged

a complaint with the Labour Commissioner here, seeking its intervention in

conducting an enquiry and initiating appropriate action against the firm under

the Industrial Dispute Act 1947.






According to the information available, Belair Communications India Pvt Ltd,
registered with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) as an export unit,

told its employees in June about its decision to close the operations. However

employees allege that the firm did not pay salaries and compensation since May.








Belair India website claims that it is a captive centre of Belair Communications
UK Ltd offering transaction processing and call centre services to its

customers. Calls to both the Indian office and the UK numbers were not answered.

"We offer offshore transaction processing and contact centre services. Our

offshore business model enables us to offer clients enhanced quality and cost

reduction," Belair Communications India website claimed.






Since June 2006, this is the third company which is closing its operations in
Bangalore. We can recall that a British energy firm Powergen had decided to

close its operations and had outsourced its job to an Indian company. Last

month, IT major Apple Computer also decided to close its Bangalore center.






STPI Bangalore Director BV Naidu speaking to CyberMedia News said that STPI
would investigate the matter with the company and also will look at the

grievances with the employees if any.






© CyberMedia News