Tesco, UL based retail giant, is spreading its India operations and also has plans to hire over 1,000 people in the next one year for its technology centres in Bengaluru. At present, the company has 4,000 employees in Bengaluru across Tesco Business Services (TBS) and Tesco Technology.

The company will hire profiles like software engineers, system engineers, data scientists, product managers, architects, finance experts, and digital transformation and robotic process automation (RPA) experts. These technology centres mainly recruit highly skilled and experienced talent.

Tesco’s India operations mainly contribute to the company’s technology capabilities although it has a retail presence through a joint venture with the Tata Group where it trades as Star Bazaar.

“Tesco in Bengaluru has been right at the heart and centre of Tesco’s growth journey. Bengaluru is also one of the critical hubs for Tesco Technology and consists of a team of problem-solvers, innovators, and inventors with a shared interest in harnessing the power of technology to solve real-world problems for our customers across our stores in the UK,” Sumit Mitra, CEO, Tesco Business Services and Tesco Bengaluru, said in an interview.

In 2004, Tesco commenced its operations in Bengaluru to enable standardisation, build centralised capabilities, and deliver a transformational experience for its global customers. “TBS and Tesco Technology work on a hub and spoke model which is spread across six key countries – India, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland with their key hubs in Bengaluru, Dundee, Budapest, the recently-opened Waterford in the Republic of Ireland, and Krakow,” said Mitra.

Tesco Business Services drives the group’s operations and is the link between a decision and the end customer, said Mitra. “The challenges we address are maintaining the highest accuracy and turnaround time across products, right pricing, promotions, marketing, supply and distribution, planning across our stores, and supporting our customers whenever they reach out to us.”

Tesco’s technology team is working on various emerging technologies to improve customer experiences. “The team is working on improving the store experience, product lifecycle management, and traded planning by using the cloud, blockchain, mixed reality (AR/VR), mobile development, IoT (internet of things), and computer vision,” said Mitra.

The point-of-sale solution of the company – Tesco Tills, developed for Tesco’s global stores, has been built in collaboration with the technology teams here in India. “This solution is a significant step in digitising the store shopping experience. The technology team in Tesco Bengaluru is also instrumental in developing other solutions such as robotic picking, urban fulfilment centres, and Whoosh, the new superfast delivery solution for customers,” added Mitra.