Costco plans broader India technology expansion as AI role grows

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Costco India tech expansion

Highlights

Costco anticipates expanding its technology presence in India beyond Hyderabad, where its capability centre may grow to several hundred staff within five to six years.
Artificial intelligence has driven up to 60% productivity gains in some projects, motivating Costco to develop additional AI-powered tools in India for global use.
Costco plans to shift its technology workforce mix in India to 75% employees and 25% contractors as its Hyderabad centre evolves from cost-cutting to higher-value functions supporting international growth.

Hyderabad hub supports global technology buildout

As reported by Reuters, Costco sees scope to expand its technology presence in India beyond Hyderabad as it increases the pace of its international growth. Javier Polit, the retailer's chief information and digital officer, says India is already playing an important role in those plans, with the company's first global capability centre supporting global operations.

Polit says the Hyderabad centre, which currently employs more than 70 people, is expected to grow to several hundred staff over the next five to six years, although he does not provide a specific hiring target. The operation also supports cybersecurity, business software, digital advertising, and data and analytics functions.

He says artificial intelligence has delivered productivity gains of up to 60% in some technology projects, encouraging Costco to build more tools in India for use across its global business. One example is a geofencing tool developed in Hyderabad that identifies customers approaching stores to help speed check-in and checkout.

India capability centres take on higher-value work

Over time, Costco expects its technology workforce mix to shift to about 75% employees and 25% contractors, from a roughly even split now, as it builds more in-house engineering and technology capability. The company set up the Hyderabad global capability centre with support from consulting firm ANSR, in a move Reuters reported last year could eventually employ about 1,000 people.

Global capability centres in India have moved beyond their traditional cost-cutting role for multinationals and are increasingly handling higher-value work in technology, finance, product development and research. For Costco, that shift supports a broader international expansion strategy as the membership-only warehouse retailer continues to grow across North America, Europe and Asia amid resilient consumer demand.

As we previously wrote, global cybersecurity funding surged in Q3 as larger late-stage deals lifted total investment despite fewer transactions.

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