Goldman Sachs Will Hire 1460 Indians Despite Slowdown; Offer Letter Already Sent

Goldman Sachs Group Inc, an investment bank and financial services firm will honour job and internship offers to 1,460 Indian graduates and students this summer as it forges ahead with its expansion plans amidst COVID-19 crisis.

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Goldman Sachs Honouring Previous Commitments? No New Hires!

The New-York headquartered firm’s job and internship offers to 1,460 Indians are the equivalent of a quarter of its workforce in India. 

Goldman last year launched a $250-million office campus in Bengaluru that can accommodate up to 9,000 employees. The facility currently houses roughly 5,500 workers. The firm dabbles in various functions including technology, finance and human resources, while also providing support for business lines such as trading and the consumer banking business, Marcus.

Gunjan Samtani, who heads the bank in India, told Reuters in an interview that about half of those were offered for full-time jobs at the bank’s technology centre in Bengaluru, now its second-biggest office globally. The rest are internships.

Additionally he said the bank was putting in place contingency plans that could allow it to move 40%-50% of its workforce in India back to its offices when the country’s stringent lockdown ends.

His undertaking on hiring runs contrary to signs that both domestic and international companies in the country’s massive tech and banking outsourcing industry are withdrawing offers as they tighten their belts to weather the upcoming recession.

Samtani said, “We are honoring each and every commitment that we make to our incoming interns and our college grads.”

A spokesman for Goldman highlighted that the Indian graduates were existing offers the bank was honoring and not new hires. He said the bank was still recruiting globally, but proceeding more cautiously in light of the crisis.

Samtani, who joined Goldman Sachs nearly a decade ago in New York, after stints with Citigroup Inc, UBS and Bear Stearns, said 98% of his staff were working from home in some 150 Indian cities and his strategy for the months ahead included a substantial element of working from home.

The first batch of interns and full-time employees joined the firm in Bengaluru on May 4, with the remaining interns and graduates to join by July. All will initially be brought in virtually.

What are the Banks Across the Globe Doing?

U.S. and European banks have postponed decisions about staff cuts for now. They are unsure how long the COVID-19 pandemic will hurt the economy and are worried about being unprepared if business suddenly snaps back.

Banks are also treading cautiously on the hiring process after the first quarter when Goldman‘s U.S. peers put aside billions of dollars against a wave of potential loan defaults.

Over the past decade, large U.S. banks and financial institutions including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have established a large presence in low-cost destinations like India, hiring thousands of graduates and experienced executives across technology, finance, accounting and human resources.