Tony Blair, on a two-day visit to India, will welcome plans by an Indian information technology company to create 600 jobs in the UK as evidence that Britain's service sector remains competitive in the face of challenges from the offshore outsourcing industry.

HCL Technologies, based in New Delhi, will announce plans tomorrow to take on 600 recruits in Belfast and London for back-office and help-desk work in the banking and retail sectors. HCL employs 2,350 employees in the UK, making it the largest Indian IT employer of local staff in the country.