Coles to offshore hundreds of back‑office jobs to India

Australian supermarket giant Coles announced plans to shift up to 1,000 back‑office positions to India after extending a partnership with consulting firm Accenture. The move targets finance, marketing, human resources and other administrative roles, aiming to cut costs and access global digital‑skill resources to meet rising customer expectations. Coles said the decision was not taken lightly and will offer redeployment or upskilling where possible; store‑front staff will remain unaffected.

The offshoring follows similar initiatives by other Australian corporations, including Qantas, Woolworths, Telstra and NAB, which have also moved large numbers of support roles to Asian locations to stay competitive amid rising wage pressures and digital disruption.