No job cuts in HSBC India

Immunity from job losses highlights India as key profit center.

HSBC will not cut jobs in India, which it considers a strategic market and a key profit centre. It fired some 22,000 employees in other worldwide locations from January to September to bring its global workforce down to 267,000 employees.

The downsizing is part of the bank’s plans to cut costs by up to US$3.5 billion by 2013.

HSBC India CEO Stuart Davis had ruled out job cuts in India as part of this global resizing, saying India is a strategic market and one of the bank’s key profit centres.

The bank achieved a further US$0.5 billion of sustainable savings in 3Q 12 through organisational effectiveness programmes to bring its annual savings to US3.1 billion.

Last year, HSBC announced plans to cut 30,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2013 as it retreats from countries where it is struggling to compete.