Wise, the global money transfer company, is doubling down on its ongoing investment in India by announcing a new full stack hub in Hyderabad with plans to hire hundreds of employees in the coming years.
Wise is also rolling out an international account details feature, which will enable freelancers and businesses to get paid from abroad in eight currencies (including USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, SGD) at the mid-market exchange rate.
India is at the heart of global money movement and has been integral to Wise’s growth since 2013, when Wise first started powering payments for India’s diaspora. Today, about 10 per cent of all the money sent from abroad to India is done so on Wise.
Set to open in the second half of 2025, Hyderabad will become Wise’s newest full stack hub. The hub will start with core regional teams across product, engineering, and servicing operations with plans to expand to host global product development and operations as hiring ramps up.
Wise’s APAC head of engineering, Smrithi Ravi, will relocate back to India to lead Wise’s hub in Hyderabad. Smrithi has spent more than six years at Wise’s regional hub in Singapore, leading a team of over 30 engineers driving the expansion of Wise’s products across APAC. Ravi and her team will help to build the underlying infrastructure like Wise’s direct connections to local payment schemes in Singapore, Australia and most recently in the Philippines in a region known for its diversity and complexity.
“The teams in Hyderabad will play a crucial role in Wise’s global infrastructure and product development,” explained Ravi. “I’ll be looking for people who are passionate about building products that have a real impact on customers and who are self-starters looking to solve some of the most complex problems in international money movement.
International accounts feature
SK Saraogi, APAC head of expansion at Wise, also added: “Our investment in Hyderabad is part of Wise’s broader mission to transform the £32 trillion international money movement market and will be central to accelerating our ability to make moving money faster, cheaper, and more convenient for millions of customers across the world.”
Smrithi’s team is also responsible for building new features localised to customers’ needs across the region. This includes the international account details feature, which is tailored specifically to the needs of Indian businesses 一 which can now use Wise to get international account details to receive payments from abroad in multiple currencies, including USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, and SGD.
“Our new international account details feature is the perfect example of how we build products from a deep understanding of the local customer experience,” added Ravi.
According to independent research from Benori Knowledge, high transaction fees (40 per cent), non-transparent pricing (37 per cent), and complicated processes (31 per cent) were top challenges for businesses in India that receive payments from abroad.
