Goldman Sachs is setting up a new technology hub in Hyderabad, its second centre in India after that in Bengaluru. The US investment bank is expected to commence operations in the second half of next year and plans to hire 500 employees initially, sources said. The centre is expected to have a presence across many of its functions – engineering, software development, consumer business, HR and finance & accounting. The new office will leverage the expertise of the existing leadership in the Bengaluru office, while investing in local talent. “We have identified Hyderabad as the second services location in India," Shivaprasanna Hebbar, its Bengaluru-based spokesperson, said. "This new office would support the growing global businesses of Goldman Sachs, and would extend our ability to tap a world-class talent pool and enhance our long-term competitiveness. Our Bengaluru office will remain the major location for our India services strategy,” he said. Its Bengaluru centre has grown to become the second-largest office of the firm after New York globally with over 6,000 employees working across all the businesses of Goldman Sachs – securities, asset management, banking, risk, compliance, internal audit and human capital management. It started operations in 2004 with 291 people. What started as an effort to take advantage of the time zone, slowly built critical mass for business processes supporting global workflows. In recent years, it has morphed into a talent powerhouse working on cross regional and business functions driving innovation through digitisation and automation.