Mumbai: Cadbury Schweppes plans to outsource a substantial chunk of its accounting and HR activities to Genpact India on the back of rising costs and shrinking margins.

Sources said Cadbury may outsource over 500 jobs to India by the end of the year as part of its ''Vision In Action Programme.''

These include jobs in core accounting functions such as salary processing and bill payment. Jobs in the HR-related roles are also likely to be outsourced with Genpact''s shared business services (SBS) in India, China and Romania among the major beneficiaries.

The ''Vision In Action Programme'' launched in 2007 is an effort to lift Cadbury''s operating margins to about 14 per cent to 15 per cent from about 10 per cent now. It will achieve this through cost-cuts and asset disposals.

The London-based Cadbury recently put its beverages business, estimated to be worth about $16 billion, on the block inviting attention from private equity giants such as Blackstone, KKR and the Tata group.