CALL centres in India may cut costs, but they also cut quality, according to a new study.

The study shows that call centre workers in the UK are more efficient than counterparts in India -- placing a huge question mark over the credibility of the decision by many companies to outsource thousands of UK call centre jobs to the lower-wage country.

Usdaw, one of the leading trade unions in the call centre industry, has urged bosses to take note of the trends highlighted in the report by research firm ContactBabel.

The study of UK and Indian call centre operations found that on average, UK agents answer 25 per cent more calls each hour than their Indian counterparts, and resolve 17 per cent more of them on the first call. More than a third of callers to India have to ring back at least once.

UK call centre workers tend to stay with their company for more than three years, while Indian workers move on after 11 months on average.

Almost a third of Indian call centres do not measure customer satisfaction, while very few perform any proactive quality checking.

Usdaw general secretary Sir Bill Connor said: "Thousands of UK call centre jobs are being lost to India.

"This report paints a shocking picture of the call centre industry there and UK call centre bosses should take note.

"Salaries may be cheaper in India, but that seems to go hand-in-hand with poorer quality, less efficiency and more customer frustration."

Steve Morris, author of the report, said: "The figures show that businesses are moving their call centres to India to save their salary bill, not to improve their quality of service, regardless of what they say.

"It's hard to ignore the salary savings, but if customers get a worse service and end up going to a competitor with a call centre in the UK, then these cost savings will soon disappear."

There are 230 call centres in the North-west, employing about 50,000 people.

The biggest local call centre is in Radcliffe where the mobile telephone company O2 employs nearly 2,000 people.