Calcutta, Nov. 22: Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today inaugurated HSBC’s group service centre at Salt Lake.

The new centre with 3,000 seats will initially take up basic data entry and back-office job for HSBC offices in the UK and the US, Alan W. Jebson, chief operating officer of HSBC Holdings, said.

The HSBC group now has five group service centres in the country ? two in Hyderabad and one each in Bangalore, Visakhapatnam and Calcutta ? employing a total of about 10,000 people. The group also has centres in mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The Calcutta centre, spread over 1.80 lakh square feet, has an initial headcount of 500.

While declining to disclose the investment in the new centre, HSBC global resourcing (South Asia) chief operating officer Malcolm H. Wagget said, “It is substantial. The decision to open the fifth centre here was taken after considering the infrastructure development and presence of quality manpower.” The group will consider increasing the headcount in India depending on the business growth, he added.

Michael Arthur, British high commissioner to India, said the UK is the third largest investor in India, after the US and Mauritius.

“Our share of investment approvals since 1991 ? comprising nearly 2500 joint ventures ? is nearly 10 per cent, well ahead of Germany, Japan and France,” Arthur said.

Bhattacharjee said the state, though a late starter in IT, is witnessing over 70 per cent growth in the sector in recent years.