Eager to please, hardworking and in plentiful supply - an Indian graduate can be bought for the bargain price of £4 a day.

It is a statistic that has left multinationals across the globe clambering to get a slice of the lucrative Asian employment market.

While some may call it exploitation, to others, it simply makes financial sense.

When it comes to outsourcing business - India is king.

Foreign investment in the country has experienced such a boom that the founder of its largest IT firm, Wipro, was last year named the fourth richest man on the planet.

It should perhaps come as no surprise, therefore, that Brighton and Hove's biggest private-sector employer American Express, has set up a pilot call centre there.

The scheme, revealed by The Argus earlier this month, has sparked concern among staff, who fear jobs will be lost if it is a success.

The company has so far refused to confirm or deny rumours that redundancies will be made.

It has also stated there was no link between the pilot centre and the relocation of staff from its offices in Preston Road, Brighton, to Burgess Hill.

Undeniably, the company has suffered following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Last year, Amex's worldwide net income was $1.3 billion, a 53 per cent decrease on 2000, when the figure stood at $2.8 billion.

In the company's annual report, chief executive Kenneth Chanault acknowledged the scale of the damage inflicted by the terror attacks.

He said: "2001 was a year unlike any other in the company's history. The nature and magnitude of the challenges we faced were unprecedented."

Like hundreds of firms worldwide, Amex has been trying to claw back its profits and, according to businessman Regan George, outsourcing is certainly a viable option.

Mr Regan runs an outsourcing business from his Brighton home called OS2i.

He has 35 people working for him in an office in India, where they conduct internet research for British firms.

His client list comprises of 35 companies from across the country.

He said: "I can charge my clients 25 per cent of what they would have to pay in the UK.

"While I can get what they want for £600 a month, they would pay £1,800 a month for the same in this country."

He said a £3,000 a year wage was a handsome salary in India where there were an abundance of graduates wanting jobs. At one call centre in New Delhi workers were being paid £4 a day.

He said: "In my experience, the work ethic out there is phenomenal.

"They will not think twice about working three or four hours overtime, if it means getting a job done.

"Jobs are scarce over there and once they have got them, they want to keep them."

One former Amex employee, who does not wish to be named, said moving operations to India would be a logical step.

She said: "Businesses are always looking for ways to be more efficient - that is a logic for any number cruncher. At Amex, the pressure was always on to cut costs."

She said one of the biggest expenses in Brighton and Hove was recognised as real estate and she was not surprised smaller offices in the city had been been closing.

She said: "Leases and building costs are high in Brighton. Wherever we could make savings by closing buildings and moving people into Amex House, it was seen as a good thing."

Targets were likely to have been set for the Indian call centre, which, if met, would signal its success.

"The business is accountable to nobody but the shareholders, so if it is more cost effective to operate from India, then it just makes good business sense."

But whatever the business benefits, it remains unpopular with some former Amex staff.

Richard worked as a manager in the technologies department at Amex until February this year.

When he was made redundant, he said there were dozens of Indian nationals working in Brighton.

He said the Government's decision to make it easier for Indian IT professionals to visit the UK, had squeezed home-grown talent out of the equation.

Last year, visa restrictions were relaxed to allow Indian nationals with IT skills to come into the UK as many times as they wished over a two-year period.

Richard said: "There was a degree of resentment as the number of Indian nationals grew, while we were being made redundant.

"Amex were always very open with us, so I can't complain about that but it seems wrong to me that experienced staff were being made to leave."

Richard's experience is backed up by another former Amex employee, who does not wish to be named.

He said: "Amex and the Government cannot claim there is a shortage of workers with IT skills in this country to justify outsourcing on this scale.

"The slump in the IT market has in fact meant the reverse - there is a massive over supply in IT skills and it is hard to argue otherwise."

Amex has said it is committed to its operations in Brighton and Hove but employees remain anxious.

One said: "People are bracing themselves for more redundancies all the time."