Through a combination of attracting new private investment and providing skills training, the West Midlands is seeing new jobs created that have long been outsourced overseas.

An innovative training course funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has helped dozens of local people start new careers in the region’s buoyant financial sector.

The jobs are among 500 new posts at Firstsource Solutions, part of the India-based TP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which is providing support services for two leading UK banks located in Birmingham.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, visits students at Birmingham's Firstsource office.

The move follows hard on the heels of a regional trade mission to India last November led by Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA and is the latest example of his efforts to further deepen the strong relationship between UK and India.

Firstsource, teamed up with the WMCA to help train new recruits in the skills needed for their new jobs using the combined authority’s Sector Based Work Academy Programme (SWAP).

The scheme offers job training packages aimed at residents seeking work and is focused on giving people the skills that regional businesses need.

Those taking part are given tailored training for the role, work experience and a guaranteed job interview. The courses are run through training providers Black Country Training Group and Birmingham Metropolitan College.

Firstsource’s expansion in Birmingham reflects the growth the region is seeing as an emerging financial hub – with the West Midlands playing host to prominent financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, visited Firstsource's offices in Victoria Square to meet some of its 35 SWAP trainees. He praised the company for its investment in the local economy.

The Mayor said: “My recent trade mission to India underlined to me the tremendous potential role that dynamic nation has to play in our own region's growth story. That's why this announcement from Indian business process outsourcing giant Firstsource is timely and very good news - and a real vote of confidence in our burgeoning financial and technology sectors.

"I'm pleased that Firstsource regards our region as a valuable base of operations for further client acquisition as well as a source of high-quality recruits to help power their future ambitions. We're committed to working with them - and indeed other firms - to help nurture a strong pool of local talent including through our SWAPS courses where we provide the chance for people to learn sought after skills and find tangible routes into work.

“Once upon a time, the West Midlands birthed the industrial revolution and now we find ourselves at the forefront of a modern-day revolution that will see our region become an increasingly strong technology and financial services hub. Firstsource is very much a part of that trajectory.”

The 500 new jobs far exceed Firstsource’s own goal of creating 360 new jobs in the West Midlands and it now ranks among the top companies in the area in terms of recruitment.