The work itself is being done by a translator on the Western Isles who was drafted in by the Indian company.
Holyrood has two Gaelic language staff but they do not carry out translation work.
UK-based firm Format Design is contracted to produce Holyrood's publications but it sub-contracted the annual report translation work after the Bangalore-based operation offered to do the work for 6p per word.
The Indian firm - effectively the "middle man" in the deal - has a database of freelancers and one of these on the Western Isles did the translation.
A spokesman said Holyrood's in-house Gaelic staff focuses on areas such as education.
Former Minister for Gaelic Peter Peacock, who believes the annual report should be translated, branded the episode “bizarre”.
He said: “To have Gaelic translations of the Parliament’s annual report pinging back and forth between Bangalore and Scotland and saving 40% of the cost in the process beggars belief.
“I hope offshoring this work is not an underhand way of trying to drive down Gaelic translators’ wages - the (Western Isles) economy is fragile enough as it is.
“No doubt the people of Bangalore will be rubbing their hands in glee at yesterday’s Scottish Government announcement of more cash for Gaelic - who knows what more opportunities it will bring to them for business.”
He said: “The Scottish Parliament contracts out the design and translation of its annual report.
“The company sub-contracts the translation element, choosing a company that offers best value for money.
“The Parliament was not involved in the decision on sub-contracting.
“The actual translation of the annual report from English into Gaelic was carried out by a Gaelic translation service - based in Scotland - with an in-depth, professional knowledge of the language.
“We do not employ translators for any language. In terms of Gaelic we have two full-time posts focusing on Gaelic education and development.”
First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday announced an extra £800,000 in funding for Gaelic education, bringing the total above £2 million this year.
A FIRM in India has been given a contract to translate the Scottish Parliament's annual report into Gaelic, it has been confirmed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article