The experience of work in India’s domestic call centre industry

Abstract

Research on Indian call centres has focused almost exclusively on international-facing operations, at the expense of its domestic sub-sector, which is driven by different economic dynamics, namely the expanding Indian ‘new economy’ and the growth of discretionary spending by the country's new middle class. The paper breaks new ground with its detailed examination of the experience of work in this domestic sector and draws upon extensive employee survey and interview data. The findings demonstrate that Indian domestic work lies at the extreme quantitative end of the call centre spectrum – its employees subject to tight controls, extensive work hours and authoritarian management practices in common.