Daily Management Review

HSBC job cut to be beneficial to India, China


06/10/2015


Even as HSBC cuts thousands of jobs worldwide, the comapny will be investing more in the growing economies of India and China over the next few years.



Even while British bank HSBC announced its plans to axe up to 25,000 jobs globally, Indian operations would face minimal impact and may at least benefit from the increased business, especially in the software engineering business, according to new reports.
 
The bank is targeting to increase its investment in India as well as China in software engineering development and back office work, which is projected to save up to $525 million over the next two years, according to a report in Firstpost. Yet, there are no reports that could put a figure on the scale of the software engineering vertical of HSBC. According to an official from HSBC India quoted in the report, “It is too early to speak of the impact (of the global cost cutting measures). If anything, it will be minimal in nature here. It could also be positive as Asia has been identified as a focus market and moreover India is a priority market for us.”
 
Earlier in an investor presentation HSBC had announced that it would increase software engineering carried out in India and China to 75 percent by 2017 from the present 50 percent, which could help it save up to $525 million.
 
According to estimates, out of the 32,000 employees of HSBC in India, almost a major chunk of 27,000 are employed in the back offices spread across Pune, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi. It has another 5,000 workers in the banking, asset management and insurance space in the country. Europe’s biggest bank added as many as 1,000 employees in India last year, which was the second highest after England.
 
HSBC announced this week that it would cut around 8,000 jobs in the UK market and around 16,000 globally. The bank announced that the move is aimed to reduce cost as well as simplify its business practices. The move is supposed to affect both retail banking as well as investment bank arm of HSBC. According to the bank, the new plan will cut costs by $5 billion and help the bank to increase investment especially in China and other developing countries in Asia. After the job cut, the bank is also planning to sell its business in developing countries including Turkey and Brazil.
 
This optimism on developing countries in Asia was reflected in the statements of the company’s CEO Stuart Gulliver as well.  “Asia is expected to show high growth and become the center of global trade over the next decade. We recognize that the world has changed and we need to change with it.”