Toronto: Canada is investigating a report that its largest bank is using temporary foreign workers hired by outsourcing company iGate, which has most of its operations in India, to effectively replace existing staff, a situation the government said it would not accept. A Conservative government minister revealed the probe on Saturday after a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC story said Royal Bank of Canada was planning to eliminate about 50 employees in its investor services division in Toronto and have the work done by outsourcing company iGate Corp. RBC said on Sunday it had not directly hired temporary foreign workers to take over the work of its current employees.
But Zabeen Hirji, the bank's chief human resources officer, said RBC looked to suppliers like iGate to ensure it complies with existing Canadian laws. She said she was not sure of the exact visa status of iGate's employees working at the Canadian offices of the bank.
"We ask them to undertake that they follow all the rules and regulations for everything including employment ... at the end of the day iGate has to answer that question," she told Reuters in a telephone interview, adding that the bank was seeking further information from iGate about the status of the workers....
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08:53 AM, Apr 08, 2013
CNN-IBN's foreign affairs editor Surya Gangadharan joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on Obama's new agenda in his 2nd innings. ...
04:25 PM, Jan 22, 2013
Barack Obama sworn in for his 2nd term: What can India expect? Foreign editor of Hindustan Times Pramit Pal Chaudhuri joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue. ...
03:02 PM, Jan 21, 2013
A US computer programmer outsourced his own job to China for a fifth of his salary. ...
04:17 PM, Jan 17, 2013
China has named Infosys in the list of 100 Key Liaison Service Outsourcing Companies, making the IT major the only Indian company to get this recognition. ...
05:59 PM, Dec 19, 2012
Key controls for "detection of suspicious trading activity" failed at an India outsourcing unit, contributing to $ 2.3-billion loss caused by a rogue trader of global banking giant UBS, a joint probe by British and Swiss regulators has found. This is the third instance when outsourcing of key oversight jobs by global banks (British giants HSBC and Standard Chartered being the other two) to India has come under the regulatory...
10:51 AM, Nov 27, 2012
Mumbai: India's $100 billion software and services outsourcing sector is likely to meet the lower end of the growth outlook for this fiscal year, an industry lobby group said as customers tread cautiously on technology spending due to global economic uncertainty. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) had in February forecast IT exports to grow 11-14 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2013. "For FY2013,...
03:04 PM, Nov 12, 2012
New Delhi: India's outsourcing chiefs crossed their fingers that Barack Obama would take a less hawkish stance on the industry during his second term, as they cheered his re-election as a possible boost to the US economy. Obama sharpened his rhetoric against industries that move jobs out of America during his re-election campaign, and his administration has been criticised by outsourcing industry bodies in India for tightening visa rules. "Not...
05:30 AM, Nov 08, 2012
India Inc welcomed the re-election of Barack Obama as the President of the US but there are some concerns in the IT and outsourcing industry. However, the Indian government said that it looks forward to stronger Indo-US ties. Obama was re-elected for a second term on Tuesday and said in his victory speech that the best is yet to come for the US. ...
02:34 PM, Nov 07, 2012
Bangalore: The re-election of US President Barack Obama is not the best news for IT outsourcing industry, according to CEO of iGATE, Phaneesh Murthy. "Not the best news for India or the IT outsourcing industry. However, we need to understand how much of the election rhetoric continues into 2013 and that will determine the full implications to us," Murthy said. "The concern over the deficit and jobs will continue (in...
12:00 PM, Nov 07, 2012
Mumbai: Global banks that ship increasingly sensitive and sophisticated work overseas to save costs will be forced to step up oversight of back office operations after industry scandals point to lapses involving offshore units in India. What started a decade ago as call centres staffed by young Indians faking Western accents to sell credit cards and field routine queries has grown into a core function for banks, handling work from...
06:14 PM, Aug 11, 2012
Mumbai: The New York banking regulator's accusation that Standard Chartered Plc hid $250 billion in transactions tied to Iran may bring fresh scrutiny on the outsourcing of sensitive functions by global financial institutions, especially to India. Standard Chartered lost $16 billion in market value on Tuesday as its shares plunged after the New York State Department of Financial Services threatened to cancel the British bank's state banking licence. As part...
08:17 PM, Aug 07, 2012
Bangalore: Infosys on Monday said it has secured second position in the "2012 Global Outsourcing 100 List" compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). Infosys was recognised for its excellent performance across all four survey assessment categories, including size and growth, customer references, organisational competencies, and management capabilities, the company said in a statement. "Our new ranking on this year's Global Outsourcing 100 list is a validation that our...
02:59 AM, Jul 24, 2012
Washington: Republican lawmakers in the United States Senate have blocked a legislation backed by President Barack Obama that would cease tax incentives to the Americans companies that outsource jobs overseas. The bill fell four votes short of the 60 needed to bring it to debate, with 42 voting against it. Immediately thereafter the White House accused Republicans of "playing politics and coming in the way of jobs creation in the...
08:14 AM, Jul 20, 2012
Melbourne: A team of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) will visit India later this year to evaluate standards of Indian service providers amid their growing role in overseeing back office functions for the country's largest four banks. A report quoted an APRA spokesman as saying that all new and existing outsourcing arrangements must adhere to Prudential Standard CPS 231, which came into force on July 1, and ensure that APRA...
11:54 AM, Jul 04, 2012
Mumbai: Even though the US is in the election mode and is under the anti-outsourcing Obama administration, the fourth largest lender there by assets, Wells Fargo has decided to move an unspecified number of jobs to India, as part of its plan to trim cost. "As part of our efforts to increase efficiency, we are thoughtfully pursuing a strategy for where we grow and where we shift resources over the...
05:01 PM, Jun 24, 2012
Washington: Seizing a news report that a company founded by Mitt Romney shipped American jobs to countries like India and China, President Barack Obama went into attack mode against his likely Republican rival. "Today it was reported in the Washington Post that the companies his firm owned were pioneers in the outsourcing of American jobs to places like China and India. Pioneers!" he said on Friday at a campaign rally...
10:40 AM, Jun 23, 2012
Washington: India on Tuesday expressed hope that the current economic woes in the US would not lead to protectionism and said that concerns of the Indian IT industry over anti-outsourcing measures announced by President Barack Obama recently will be addressed quickly. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai on his first bilateral visit to the US said that the Indian IT industry in the US has contributed $15 billion in taxes alone in...
12:22 AM, Feb 08, 2012
Chicago: The anti-outsourcing measures US President Barack Obama announced last week are unacceptable and will hurt both American and Indian economies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said. Talking to mediapersons at the end of a two-day visit to Chicago, Mukherjee said outsourcing of jobs had helped increase the profitability of American companies and any move to discourage such activities would hurt them. Mukherjee's comments on Sunday came after Obama last...
12:47 AM, Jan 31, 2012
Chicago: Worried over the adverse fallout of protectionism, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday if the US stops outsourcing jobs to India, profitability of both the economies will be hurt. "...if US stops outsourcing jobs from India to some extent profitability of the economies will be affected," Mukherjee told reporters in Chicago. Speaking at the end of a two-day visit, he said that nations were free to adopt policies...
05:30 PM, Jan 30, 2012
