Qantas cuts 850 Australian jobs as firms move white-collar roles to India

Qantas is cutting 850 local jobs and outsourcing some of these roles to Accenture workers in India. This move is part of a larger trend where many major Australian companies are moving white-collar jobs overseas.

Companies And Global Capacity Centres

NAB, Westpac, Telstra, Bank of Queensland, Coles, Officeworks and Qantas have all announced plans to cut Australian jobs and shift roles to Asia through global capacity centres, known as GCCs. GCCs are company-owned foreign offices that give businesses full control instead of using third-party contractors. Bunnings planned a GCC in India in 2020 without cutting jobs yet, while Kmart opened one in 2018. Companies state these moves help manage rising costs and adopt artificial intelligence.

Reasons And Scale

India hosts about half of the world's GCCs, mostly centered in Bengaluru. Australia's high commissioner to India, Philip Green, estimated in 2024 that Australian firms directly employed roughly 30,000 people in Indian GCCs. ANSR chief executive Lalit Ahuja noted that tighter immigration rules are speeding up this shift. Arya Roy Bardhan from the Observer Research Foundation stated that lower wages—averaging one third of Australian pay—and tax cuts are major incentives. Dr Kanupriya from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade added that it combines cost savings with access to a diverse talent pool. India produces about 830,000 engineering and tech graduates each year.

Reactions

The Finance Sector Union criticized the job cuts as callous and ruthless while corporate profits soar. Meanwhile, ANSR chief executive Lalit Ahuja suggested the trend could eventually include senior executives based in Bangalore or Hyderabad.

Context

Offshoring has evolved from basic call center outsourcing in the 1990s into complex corporate operations housed in Global Capacity Centres. India remains a major destination for these offices due to its large, English-speaking and technically skilled workforce.