MUMBAI-BASED outsourcing group Firstsource is to set up a second operation in Derry which will deliver 150 new jobs.

The Indian group said the jobs would be in addition to existing investment plans to create more than 300 jobs at its call centre in Northland Road in Derry.

FirstSource, one of India’s fastest-growing business process outsourcing companies (BPOs), said the latest expansion is the direct result of a contract with a new telecommunications client.

The company currently employs more than 700 people at its Northland Road centre and a further 500 people in Belfast.

It is among a growing cluster of Indian investors in the North such as HCL, Polaris, Pix Transmission and Tech Mahindra.

FirstSource, whose clients include FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 banks, telecommunications companies and healthcare companies, came to Northern Ireland three years ago. It plans to expand into a second site on Spencer Road in Derry where American BPO Stream Global Services is also located. Up to 450 jobs are under threat at the Stream call centre.

The North’s Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster wrote to the American group asking it to award contracts to help the Derry centre.

Sean Canning, the UK operations director for Firstsource, said the new contract was a boost and its new facility on Spencer Road represented a “major expansion”.

“This work is a great development for Firstsource as we will be working for a new client and moving into a new area in Derry.”

The chief executive of Invest Northern Ireland, the North’s regional economic development agency, has warmly welcomed the Indian group’s decision to expand again in Derry.

Alastair Hamilton said it had worked closely with Firstsource since its investment in 2006. “The company’s rapid growth since then demonstrates that Northern Ireland was the perfect location from which to develop business in the EMEA market.”