Citigroup Shifts 1,000 Tech Jobs to India Amid China Cuts

(NEW DELHI, INDIA) Citigroup is shifting nearly 1,000 technology jobs to India in 2025 after slashing around 3,500 tech roles in China earlier this year. The move tightens its global footprint while reacting to a sharp change in U.S. visa costs that is reshaping how banks and tech firms move talent.

The relocation centers on Citigroup’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, and Mumbai, where the bank already employs about 33,000 people. Executives and hiring managers are frank about timing: the relocation lines up with President Trump’s new $100,000 fee on each new H-1B Visa application, which took effect on September 21, 2025. For global employers — especially on Wall Street — that price tag is forcing hard choices about where work gets done and where teams will grow.

Why India (and not abandoning the U.S.)

Citigroup is not abandoning the United States. Rather, the combination of:

• Deep tech talent in India
• Rising U.S. visa costs
• The desire to avoid overreliance on any single country

has accelerated a strategic rebalancing. A six-figure fee per new H-1B petition — on top of existing costs — pushes companies to expand offshore teams instead of moving mid-level and junior specialists to U.S. offices.

According to VisaVerge.com analysis, this policy shift will hit startups and mid-sized consultancies hardest, while large firms redirect hiring to countries that can support large-scale tech builds at lower cost.

What India’s GCCs already do

India’s GCC network is mature and handles advanced work across multiple domains:

• Data platforms
• Product design
• Analytics
• Payments
• Global operations

Several major banks run significant portions of their engineering roadmaps from India, with product owners and senior architects based in-country and distributed teams across time zones. For Citi, adding about 1,000 roles reinforces India as a hub for day-to-day engineering and long-term platform buildouts.

Visa change: mechanics and immediate impact

Key points about the H-1B change:

• The $100,000 fee applies only to new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025.
• It does not apply to renewals or existing H-1B holders under current rules.
• Historically, H-1B filing costs ranged from a few hundred to several thousand dollars; the new fee dramatically alters the economics of moving a new hire to the U.S.

For official program details, see the U.S. government’s H-1B page: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Filing detail:

• New H-1B petitions use Form I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker). See the official site: Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker.

Employers will generally reserve costly new filings for hard-to-replace senior specialists, use intra-company transfers (L visas) where applicable, or restructure teams to keep work offshore.

Operational and compliance considerations

Shifting work across borders in banking is not just a staffing plan — it’s a regulatory project.

• Larger, co-located teams reduce handoffs and project delays and can plug into global workstreams more effectively.
• However, compliance teams must manage data residency, client confidentiality, and financial crime controls.
• Firms must invest in data classification, encryption, monitoring, and strict access controls to keep sensitive workloads in compliant environments.

Failure on compliance can erase cost savings and create operational risk.

How Citigroup might reassign roles internally

Examples of operational realignment within Citigroup’s India centres:

• A cloud migration unit in Pune absorbing platform engineers previously based in China.
• A payments squad in Chennai taking delivery ownership for features that had been split across regions.

Managers are preparing for expanded team sizes and new charters, with longer handovers, shadowing, and dual-running critical processes during transition phases.

Strategic risk management: diversification and geopolitics

Distributing work across multiple corridors hedges regulatory and geopolitical risk. Heavy exposure to a single country creates vulnerabilities — a lesson reinforced by trade tensions and sudden regulatory changes.

• Companies will still bring senior, niche experts to the U.S. when justified.
• More routine and many mid-level engineering jobs will be added in India rather than funded through new H-1B petitions.

India GCC scale and economic context

Snapshot of the GCC landscape:

What used to be “back office” work now includes analytics, product R&D, UX, cybersecurity, and risk modeling, with teams owning full product modules and end-to-end delivery responsibilities.

People and career impacts

For workers in India:

• More pathways into complex, global work.
• Faster growth, broader scope, and more stability than relying on costly visa routes.
• Typical roles: data engineers leading fraud detection streams, UI leads owning digital onboarding journeys.

For workers in China affected by cuts:

• Transition can be painful. Options include relocating, finding local roles, or joining regional tech firms.
• Firms must manage communication with local staff and regulators to reduce disruption.

For U.S. workers:

• Some roles may be retained onshore; others will be moved offshore depending on client interaction, regulatory needs, and access to U.S. data.

Industry scenarios (illustrative)

1. A fintech vendor grows a 100-person engineering pod in Pune instead of filing new H-1Bs — delivering features faster and avoiding large filing costs.
2. A U.S. bank moves analytics and risk modeling to India, reserving new H-1B filings for a few niche quant roles.
3. A mid-sized U.S. startup pauses U.S. hiring and signs a long-term contract with a Bengaluru studio to build core modules.

Risks to manage

Operational and human risks include:

• Data privacy, cross-border transfer, and localization law compliance.
• Potential loss of institutional knowledge and team morale during transitions.
• Wage pressure on in-demand skills in India (cloud security, site reliability, HPC for risk).

Mitigations:

• Strong data governance, encryption, and monitoring.
• Clear transition plans: longer handovers, shadowing, and documentation.
• Investment in local leadership and retention programs.

Practical steps employers should take

Recommended actions for firms adjusting to the new environment:

1. Map roles by location need — U.S.-critical, globally flexible, or India-first.
2. Budget for the fee and reserve new H-1B filings for roles that justify the spend.
3. Strengthen India-based leadership to maintain product direction and quality.
4. Work closely with compliance teams to address data and localization rules.

These are longer-term changes, not quick fixes, but they create a foundation for stable cross-border delivery.

Policy context and broader debate

Supporters of the fee say it protects U.S. jobs. Critics argue it will reduce innovation in the U.S. and push jobs overseas, especially harming smaller companies that cannot absorb the added cost.

Likely outcomes:

• Large employers expand offshore (India and other markets).
• Smaller firms may delay projects or look offshore earlier.
• The U.S. labor market may see mixed effects depending on role type and sector.

Signals to watch

As restructuring continues, watch for three signs:

• Increasing India-based director and VP roles across engineering, data, and product.
• More end-to-end platform ownership shifting to India, including regulatory reporting and risk systems.
• Slower U.S. hiring cycles for mid-level tech roles, even at firms committed to a U.S. presence.

Each signal underscores the same point: the global center of gravity for many banking tech stacks is moving, and India is the anchor.

Final summary

• Citigroup is moving around 1,000 technology roles to India in 2025 after heavy China cuts earlier this year.
• The $100,000 fee on new H-1B Visa petitions has materially changed employer talent planning.
• India’s GCC industry is large and growing and ready to absorb more complex work.
• Significant risks remain — especially around data, compliance, and human transitions — and those must be managed carefully.
• The trend is clear: more banking tech will be built in India for global use, while select senior roles continue to move to the U.S. when the business case justifies the cost.

Key takeaway: With visa costs and geopolitical risks reshaping corporate maps, India is positioned to deepen its role as a global engineering and product hub — provided firms invest in compliance, leadership, and retention to make the transitions work.