Business trends were turned on their heads when an Indian IT company announced yesterday it was creating 250 call-centre jobs in Northern Ireland.

The jobs boost for Belfast will come as part of a £1.9 million (€2.8 million) investment by HCL, one of India's leading global IT companies. HCL currently employs 900 people in its call centre at Apollo Road in the south of the city - an operation it took over from BT in 2001.

Announcing the new jobs, Northern Ireland Economy Minister Mr Barry Gardiner said the investment was "especially significant as it reverses the trend".

HCL's global strategy was to increase its business in Europe and the US, and the expansion in Belfast would further consolidate the city as its key European base, he said.

"It will offer recruits and existing employees extensive training opportunities," added Mr Gardiner.

The investment has been heavily backed by the North's business agency, Invest NI, which is providing £625,000 in selective financial assistance and £295,000 for further training through the Company Development Programme.

Mr Ranjit Narasimhan, HCL chief operating officer in Belfast, said the company was expanding operations in the city to enable it to develop opportunities that had been identified in European markets, especially Britain.

They were for a "quality provider of contact services to major clients in retail, banking and commercial sectors", he said.

He added that, as well as providing scope for expansion, the recruitment was required to service a series of recent business contracts for a number of new clients.

HCL currently employs 13,000 people worldwide, including a software development operation in England, and has sales in excess of $1 billion (€0.82 billion).