London, March 28: Thousands of high-powered jobs in the financial services sector are set to be outsourced to India from the City of London, the hub of the world?s money markets, according to a report published today.

The report from Troika, a British financial services consultancy, predicts that within five years, 100,000 such jobs will be lost to low-cost countries, including 15,000 well-paid ones in the City of London.

In Britain, the expression, ?the City?, is shorthand for the City of London, the square mile around the Bank of England which is bulging with banks, the London Stock Exchange and other financial institutions.

A well-informed source in the financial services sector of a major Indian bank, who declined to be named (?we are not allowed to talk to the media?) said: ?The staff in India, who could be chartered accountants or engineers or physics graduates with some financial background, will have to be paid good salaries ? they won?t come cheap ? but for firms in London it will still be cheaper than employing equivalent staff in Britain.?

The source added that if an Indian financial analyst is paid $30,000, compared with the $100,000 his counterpart would earn in Wall Street, ?that person will not leave India for the US?.

It seems that some Indian accountancy firms have already sent their executives to London to tout for business. ?I know of a couple who have come to London and have been in touch with accountancy firms and solicitors? firms,? the source revealed.

The work being shifted includes working out payments for pension funds, which require constant updating so that there is not a shortfall now that people are expecting to live a lot longer. ?The skills required to do the calculations and financial modelling are already there in India, and also software models are available,? the source added.

According to a report today in The Times, over the past few years Indian companies have been gearing up to take on more profitable, highly skilled, analytical work, including financial modelling and actuarial services.

Andrew Stewart, the managing director of Troika, told the paper: ?There is a growing shift to look at offshoring more complex and high-paid roles ? finance, research, human resources, marketing, actuarial and underwriting.?

This seems a far cry from the stereotype ? cheap call centres where ?Randy? who answers the phone with a fake American accent when clients call from the US is Randhir in real life.

The Times reports that Indian companies are already providing research services to London-based stockbrokers and management consultancies, feeding into work done by equity research and economic research teams, and providing background industry analysis for consultants.

The report also says ICICI OneSource, the outsourcing unit of one of India?s largest financial services groups, last year signalled its interest in building a presence in the lucrative research outsourcing market with the purchase of a majority stake in Pipal Research, a US-based company that operates in India.

The source on the Indian bank said: ?This makes sense to me. Even if financial consultants in India are paid high salaries, other costs, such as setting up an office with proper communications, would be a lot lower.?