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Indian Debt Collectors See US' Dark Side

Outsourced call centers get ring-side seat for economic crash

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 14, 2008 9:49 AM CDT

(Newser) – Most Indian call center employees develop a fairly utopian view of the US, which seems a land of brand-name splendor and plenty. Not so at Aegis BPO Services, a call center specializing in debt collection, where employees are getting an up-close and personal look at the credit crunch. “It’s like people are totally drowning,” said one caller. “There has just been years of overspending and now: the crash.”

The demand for Indian debt collection callers has boomed; it’s one of the few outsourcing sectors still hiring aggressively, the Washington Post reports. Most centers—staffed by recent college grads equipped with fake American accents and names—deal with credit card debt, with more complicated mortgage payments handled domestically. But even these small debts elicit sob stories, usually with actual tears. “The situation is so emotional, so fragile,” says employee. “We have to have so much empathy.”

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In this Feb. 6, 2007 file photo, an employee of Convergys Corp., a global leader in call-center outsourcing, speaks with a client, in Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi, India. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, FILE)

An Indian call center employee talks with a customer overseas in this Aug. 7, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

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This business is a performing art. We are part therapists because the core of the issue is that every human being wants to be honorable in life. - Aparup Sengupta, Global CEO of Aegis BPO Services, an India-based debt collection firm

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Indian Debt Collectors See US' Dark Side