Anger as RBS looks to India for workers after UK job cuts

The Royal Bank of Scotland is coming under fire for embarking on a recruitment drive in India.

The bank, which was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2008 to the tune of £45 billion, is hiring hundreds of business analysts, IT workers, project managers and software designers overseas.

An investigation by a Sundaynewspaperfoundthebank has launched a slick recruitmentcampaigninthecountry where staff earn a fraction of their UK counterparts.

The move comes after RBS cut 30,000 UK jobs in the wake of the financial collapse, including 450 in June this year.

Politicians and union leaders last night criticised the outsourcing of jobs to India.

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “RBS was bailed out by the very taxpayers it now seems to be turning its back on. Moving operations to the other side of the world where wages are a fraction of what they are here is inexcusable.

“Jobs right across the UK will be lost as a result of this move and RBS should think again. It needs to remember who came to the rescue when times were tough.”

Unite national officer Rob Macgregor said: “The expansioninindiahasbeenachieved accumulatively over the past decade and we believe it will continue aggressively and by stealth.

“It is a national scandal and we have made it clear to the bank, but there is no end in sight.

“If there is an opportunity to offshore work RBS will do it with determination - and they are unapologetic about this.

“They are moving work that can be done in the UK overseas at a time when we need to keep jobs in this country.”

In the past four months the recruitment website Indeed has listed 800 RBS jobs including almost 200 IT, human resources and programming positions in India. Labour MP John Mann, former Treasury Select Committee member, said: “It is appalling that they are repaying the taxpayer by shifting jobs abroad. People will be angry. Workers here are perfectly capable of doing these roles.

“We will end up with a bank employing more people in India than in the UK. It will backfire.”

A spokesman for RBS said: “As RBS moves towards becoming a simpler, smaller, Uk-focussed bank, we continue to look at our structures to ensure they are a good fit for our businesses and that we have the right activity in the right locations.

“This has led to a small number of roles moving away from the UK to our hubs in Poland and India.”