Barclays to set up biggest office outside UK in India

Barclays Bank is planning to open a large office in the Indian city of Pune, with back-office work to be carried out by 8,000 people.

According to reports in India, the office will host the Barclays Global Services Centre, which will provide business services to Barclays globally. It will be the bank’s second-biggest office in the world, behind Canary Wharf in London.

Barclays currently has back-office operations carried out in three Indian cities – Pune, Chennai and Noida.

According to The Times of India, a Barclays spokesperson said: “We are constantly looking at ways by which to deliver the best outcome for our colleagues, customers and clients. India is a crucial component of our growth plan and we remain deeply committed to growing our business and presence here.”

There is a current trend of large multinationals investing more in captive centres, with many seeing India seen as the optimum location.

Global companies are choosing Indian cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune to open technology hubs as an extension of the business rather than a third-party service provider.

For example, money transfer company Western Union recently opened a technology centre in Pune that employs 1,000 people. It will focus on technologies such as robotics, machine learning and biometrics.

Peter Schumacher, CEO at the Value Leadership Group, said such centres are becoming much more than just opportunities to cut costs.

“At a recent event we held in Bangalore with 40 captive centre CEOs from across India, several US-based CIOs and global VCs confirmed that captives from the US and Europe have made significant progress in becoming more innovative and moving up the value curve,” he said.

“The Indian services and innovation ecosystem is stronger than it has ever been. Companies are taking a more strategic view towards their Indian operations.”