Hello, it's India calling

Exclusive by Luke McIlveen
October 14, 2006 12:00
Article from: The Daily Telegraph

FROM this sp**** room on top of a Bangalore pharmacy, call centre workers pester hundreds of households in NSW every day.

Trading as Anna Global Consulting, the centre pushes mobile phone upgrades for telecommunications firms.

Twelve agents start at 4.30am - 9am Sydney time - calling clients selected at random from the Yellow Pages.

Indian call centre operators call Australian customers at home and work every day - so The Daily Telegraph paid them a visit on their own time.

Science graduate Nanda Kumar, 25, said he found many customers had become hostile in recent months.

He has never been to Australia, but can rattle off the suburbs such as Liverpool, Bankstown and Casula which he targets each day.

He is paid about 10,000 rupees or $300 a month to do work once done by Australians before big companies began seeking cheaper labour offshore.

"Some say they won't talk to Indians because we took their brothers' and sisters' jobs or something, but most people are friendly," Mr Kumar said.

"We do not say we are from India, we say we're from Optus, but people can tell by the accent," he said.

"If they ask where are we calling from, we just say we are from Optus.

"Some get a bit cranky and hang up."

Mr Kumar said the prospect of almost certain rejection only made him try harder.

During The Daily Telegraph's visit, a call worker made three calls to businesses in western Sydney but was cut off before he could finish spruiking.

Sydney firms in the call centre's sights included Kennards Hire at Kellyville and Hoist It Hire in Castle Hill.

Only one in 10 clients takes up the offer of a new mobile phone but Anna Consulting chief Samuel Thiparala is satisfied with his company's strike rate.

"If they say yes to a new phone we have an office in Burwood that can get the product to them quickly," said Mr Thiparala, who spent a year in Sydney and still carries his membership card to Wests Leagues Club in Ashfield.

His modest office is plastered with posters showing the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay, and three Australian flags are proudly on display.

Mr Thiparala said he used tapes to teach his workers how to speak with an Australian accent but most found it too difficult and he settled instead for a ``neutral'' Indian accent.

An Optus spokeswoman said the phone giant had outsourced call centre staff to India in recent years.

"We have been up front about the fact that we use call centres in India," she said.