A PLYMOUTH call centre has been sold to an Indian firm as part of deal thought to be worth £45million.

Hundreds of people are employed at the FirstInfo call centre, which handles ticket sales and other back-office administrative tasks for train operator FirstGroup.

Based at Intercity House, at Plymouth train station, 500 city people worked there in 2003, though the workforce was reduced to 300 by 2005.

New owner, Indian outsourcing giant Intelenet Global Services, which is controlled by US private equity group Blackstone, last night insisted it was keeping its Plymouth and Fort William call centres as part of its strategy of remaining close to its customers.

Chief executive Susir Kumar said Intelenet wanted to build the FirstInfo centres into a larger UK presence, from about 300 people to up to 2,000 in the next two years.

That would be a welcome boost for the city's economy amid a wave of unemployment.