Spanish banking group Santander recalls India call centres to the UK

A spate of call centres from India are being moved back to the UK due to customer complaints, high real estate prices and a steep rise in salaries.

Spanish banking giant Santander became the second foreign firm this week to announce its plans to move its call centres back to the UK in a bid to improve customer satisfaction.

Earlier in the week New Call Telecom, which had operated for three years in Mumbai, said it would move back to Lancashire in the UK and hopes to be fully operational by mid-August.

It said it did not expect any major cost savings from this move but was attracted more by the prospect of improving customer service and hiring committed local staff due to the high unemployment in the UK.

Santander, a leading financial services provider in Europe and the UK, plans to recall all its call centres from India back to the UK following customer complaints.

Last year, Santander known for the worst complaints records in the industry, issued a formal apology to customers after admitting to basic failures in setting up accounts and processing customer requests.