Indian Outsourcer HCL has announced that it will target the UK public sector very “aggressively”.

Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL, said "public sector outsourcing contracts are inefficient. They have to be measured against global benchmarks and open to more people... You cannot take from citizens and give to companies that are hugely inefficient."

The government is currently cutting the amount if spends with some of its biggest suppliers which include Atos Origin, Accenture and Capgemini.

Nayer insisted the cost-cutting doesn't have to come at the expense of innovation: "It's not about cost arbitrage, it's not about moving jobs from the UK to India - it's about innovation... and innovation will come from the use of technology," he said.

Despite the public sector cost-cutting agenda, Nayar said any UK government work undertaken by HCL could be carried out onshore, rather than in lower-cost offshore locations such as India.

Nayer said "We will be happy to deliver 100 per cent of services from the UK.”