Service Centre in India

Prudential PLC
30 September 2002


Embargoed until 09:00 hrs on Monday 30 September 2002

Prudential plc announces plans to create offshore service centre in India

Prudential plc today announces that it is to establish an offshore service
centre in India to improve customer contact service levels and reduce costs for
the group's UK insurance operations. The new processing centre will be
established in Mumbai and is expected to be fully operational by the end of
2004.

As a result of this reorganisation Prudential will reduce the scale of its
operation in Reading and anticipates a reduction in headcount of 850 over the
next two years bringing the total number of staff in Reading to 1400.

The project is expected to incur a restructuring charge of approximately £20
million by the end of 2004. This will be offset by annual cost savings of £16
million from 2006, in addition to the annual cost savings target of £200 million
by 2004 already announced.

Prudential UK's Chief Executive Mark Wood explains: 'In November 2001 we set out
the initial phase of our strategy for improving the level of service we provide
to our UK customers and Independent Financial Advisers while reducing our
operating costs. This move takes us a step further and places us in a strong
position to grow the business.'

A number of plans and processes have been put in place following last November's
announcement to help those affected find alternative employment both internally
and externally.

The implementation and operation of the offshore centre will benefit from the
knowledge and expertise existing within the Prudential group, which has a large
business in Asia, where it operates in twelve countries, including India.
Prudential has appointed ICICI OneSource, one of the largest providers of
offshore business process and customer relationship management services out of
India, to set up the new centre. The operation will be wholly-owned by
Prudential. ICICI is the joint-venture partner for two of Prudential's existing
domestic businesses in India.

Customers and IFAs contacting Prudential in the UK will not be affected by this
change and can continue to contact Prudential by telephone: [phone] or via
the internet: www.pru.co.uk.

Prior to making this announcement, Prudential UK has begun formal consultations
with MSF-Amicus on this initiative.

                                     -ENDS-

Enquiries to:-
                                                              Investors and Analysts:
    Media:

    Group
                                      
    Geraldine Davies                  0207 548 3911           Rebecca Burrows                020 7548 3537
                                      
    Steve Colton                      0207 548 3721           Laura Presland                 020 7548 3511
                                      
    Clare Staley                      0207 548 3719


    UK Insurance Operations
                                      
    Darragh Leeson                    0207 334 5121




Notes to Editors:

1. Prudential's UK Insurance Operations provide a range of financial products
and services including annuities, corporate and individual pensions,
with-profits bonds and investment products to more than seven million customers.



2. Prudential UK Insurance Operations employs some 8,000 staff located in
offices in Stirling, Reading, Belfast, Glasgow and London.

This announcement impacts primarily on its offices in Reading, where it expects
to reduce headcount by a total of 850 by the end of 2004. This number is in
addition to the total reduction in headcount across the UK of 2100 which we
announced in November 2001, of which 1259 were in Reading. The total number of
Prudential staff remaining in Reading at the end of 2004 will be 1400.



3. Prudential plc expects to incur a restructuring charge of approximately £20
million by the end of 2004 as a result of this initiative. The current estimated
impact on shareholders will be a charge of £5 million against achieved basis
pre-tax profit, spread over the next three years.

However, due to the creation of a lower cost servicing centre, Prudential
expects to achieve annual gross cost savings from 2006 of approximately £16
million, of which it is currently estimated that £1 million (on an achieved
profit basis) will be attributable to shareholders in 2003 (increasing to £2
million in 2004, to £3 million in 2005 and to £4 million in 2006 and
thereafter).

These cost savings are in addition to the gross annual costs savings of around
£200m which Prudential expects to achieve from 2004 due to the creation of the
single customer service organisation, the rationalisation of support services
and a refocusing of IT investment. Of this amount, £65 million (on an achieved
profit basis) will be attributable to shareholders.

We announced details of the £200 million cost savings at our Interim Results in
July of this year. This represented an increase of £25m per year on the £175m of
annual cost savings which we had originally identified at the time of the
November 2001 strategy announcement.



4. Prudential in Asia

Prudential was first established in Asia in 1923 and is currently the UK's
largest life insurance company in Asia. Prudential Corporation Asia (PCA) now
has 22 operations in 12 countries: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It
has top five market positions in nine of these operations.

Alongside its wholly-owned operations in Asia, Prudential has forged successful
joint ventures and strategic alliances with some of the region's leading
financial institutions including Standard Chartered Bank, CITIC (China
International Trust and Investment Corporation), Bank of China International and
India's ICICI.

Earlier this year we launched the Prudential ICICI InstaCall service in India,
the first ever 24-hour call centre service provided by a mutual fund company.
This enables our Indian investors to carry out transactions such as redemptions
and switches by telephone. They can also obtain updated information on their
account balances, access the latest net asset values, product details, list of
Customer Service Centres and transaction history.



5. ICICI OneSource

The operation is being set up by ICICI OneSource - a company with an established
brand in India and a strong track record in delivering similar projects to a
high standard for international clients. ICICI OneSource is one of the largest
providers of offshore business processing and customer relationship management
services out of India and currently has over 1,350 employees serving 10
international clients, both in the US and the UK.

ICICI OneSource is wholly owned by the ICICI group - the flagship of which is
ICICI Bank, the second largest bank in India with over $20 billion in assets.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange