ONE of York’s major employers, Aviva, has announced it is to move hundreds of jobs to India.

The insurance group has said 600 jobs at offices in York, Sheffield and Norwich will be moved to India by 2014.

A spokesperson for the business said they did not yet know how many of the jobs would move from York to the new centre in Pune, in the west of India.

The business will now enter a detailed planning phase to confirm it has identified the correct areas to offshore.

The company said it expected a third of the role reductions to be met by closure of vacancies, temporary contracts and natural turnover.

But the Unite union has called for the decision to be reversed and to keep the jobs in the UK, saying the company had a “responsibility to the community it profits from”.

Last month the company revealed it was to cut six per cent of its workforce, which amounted to 2,000 people in the UK, Europe and Asia losing their jobs.