New Delhi has become the hub of a call center operation for store cards used by a number of well known British shop chains. Finance company G.E. Capital has relocated the center to Delhi for reasons of profitability.
Indian workers earn one sixth what it costs to employ the lowest paid equivalent workers in Britain.
But the staff who run the Delhi center have been told to use fake English names because overseas callers, unaware that their calls are being re-routed thousands of miles to Delhi, may have difficulty pronouncing names like Kapil, Sajid and Shweta. Staff is being encouraged to keep the first letter of their original Indian names, but change the rest. Thus Kapil becomes Kevin, Sajid becomes Simon or Sean and Shweta becomes Shona or Sharon. The Commission for Racial Equality confirmed it is examining the name game following concerns that the policy implies Indian names are in some way inferior, or that white Britons might be offended in some way by the use of Indian names. It makes thing easier if this is short and familiar sounding.