British insurance giant Aviva announced on Tuesday that it will hire 2,500 people in India next year to serve its businesses in the UK and Canada.
While 2,350 people will be recruited to serve the insurance giant's UK businesses, 150 jobs will be created to back-up its operations in Canada, the company said in a statement.
Out of this, 2000 jobs will be created in administration, processing and IT for the company's Norwich Union arm and other life insurance businesses in the UK, the statement said, adding the staff will be based in Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.
Around 350 jobs will be created in the company's call and claims processing centres in Delhi and Bangalore, dealing principally with motor and household insurance enquiries and claims, it said.
The remaining 150 new jobs in India will be created to support its general insurance business in Canada for which the staff will be based in Bangalore and will provide a new sales administration centre for a range of motor and home insurance products offered by Aviva Canada.
Aviva anticipates that approximately 80 per cent of the jobs created in India will be accommodated in the UK by a combination of expansion, current vacancies, anticipated staff turnover and voluntary measures.
"We are operating in an increasingly competitive environment. Our customers want value for money products and high levels of service so it is vital that we continually explore opportunities to improve our efficiency while maintaining service levels," Richard Harvey, group chief executive of Aviva plc, said.
"Our staff in India are an important part of this process and our experiences to date have been positive," he said.
Aviva is the UK's largest insurer and one of the top-five life insurance companies in Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's seventh-largest insurance group, which operates under the Norwich Union brand.
Worldwide, Aviva employs about 59,000 people and by the end of 2004 the firm expects to have at least 3,700 of them in India as it already has 1,200 workers in the country.