This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) opened a global capability center in Hyderabad on Wednesday and plans to expand it to about 2,000 employees by the end of 2027, according to a Telangana state government statement reported by Reuters. Schwab said hiring will run in phases, with roughly 500 in the first year. Schwab shares were down 0.20% intraday.
The center will handle technology development, engineering and operational support for Schwab's US businesses, and the company plans to bring some technology work currently done by contractors in India in-house there.
The timing runs against the sector. Standard Chartered has said roles at its Indian back-office centers will be affected by a restructuring programm, and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) has said AI could eventually reduce parts of its workforce. Pareekh Jain of consulting firm EIIRTrend told Reuters that firms cutting staff are "optimising on their bloated workforce with AI," while newer entrants continue to build teams from scratch.
India hosts more than 2,100 such centers employing about 2.36 million people, according to a 2026 Nasscom-Zinnov report, and financial firms including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo, Barclays and American Express (NYSE:AXP) make up a quarter of that workforce.