India is a core location for us where we build and lead global products: Nitin Chandel, UKG

As enterprises worldwide embrace AI and platform-led innovation to enhance workforce transformation, UKG is betting big on India as a hub for global product engineering, AI research, and platform development. With nearly 4,000 employees spread across Noida, Pune, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, India has become central to UKG’s strategy.

In this conversation with Express Computer, Nitin Chandel, Group Vice President and India Country Manager, UKG, shares insights on UKG’s India journey, AI-led product innovation, hiring and talent strategy, and how India is increasingly leading global mandates for the company.

To begin, can you give us some context about UKG’s journey in India and the role the country plays in the company’s global strategy?

UKG is a global leader in workforce management and HCM solutions, with about two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies as our clients. We’ve been in India for over two decades, and today we’re close to 4,000 employees across Noida, Pune, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.

India is not just a cost centre for us, it is a core location where we build and lead global products. We do almost everything here that happens globally, including AI and innovation-led work. Our recent expansion in Pune reflects our focus on talent diversification and strengthening India as a scale centre.

UKG has built over 40 AI agents to improve frontline experiences. Can you elaborate on some of these innovations, especially those developed in India?

Yes, our AI agents are branded under Bryte Hub, and we have more than 40 live, with many more in development. Given the wealth of data we manage, such as 12 billion employee punches a year, 117 billion job applications, and 20 million Great Place to Work survey responses, we saw an opportunity to simplify the lives of frontline workers and their managers.

For example, our Payroll Compliance Agent, developed entirely out of India, scans public and government sites to automatically track compliance changes, saving payroll managers a huge manual effort. Similarly, we built Tax Compliance Agents to monitor frequent changes in taxation laws, and scheduling agents that optimise employee breaks or healthcare staff shifts based on certifications and expertise.

We’re now moving toward more complex use cases where these agents can talk to each other, further improving automation and decision-making.

Beyond sector-specific use cases like manufacturing and healthcare, how is the India team working on platform-level innovation?

The India centres have historically focused on platform engineering, particularly in workforce management and HCM. One of our core innovations, the People’s Fabric data platform, which powers analytics across our products, is largely developed here.

Over the last decade, platform engineering has been India’s stronghold, and now we are also taking on more product and domain work, including AI-first solutions.

What role does UKG’s India AI Lab play in shaping global R&D and product roadmaps?

Our India AI teams in Pune and Noida are central to global innovation. For instance, both the Payroll Compliance Agent and Tax Agent were fully developed here.

We have a central AI platform team in India that enables all product teams globally to build AI features without reinventing the wheel. At the same time, we are hiring aggressively for AI-first engineers to build next-generation agentic solutions. Many of our products, including Workforce Management, HCM, HRSD, and our SMB-focused Ready product, have India-led teams that own full product lifecycles, from engineering to releasing new AI capabilities.

UKG is rapidly scaling its India presence. How are you investing in leadership development, academia, and the tech community to sustain this growth and attract top AI talent?

Talent is our top priority. Over the next few years, we plan to hire about 1,000 people in India, making it one of our largest global growth markets.

We’re doubling down on college hiring, with around 400 hires this year from IITs, NITs, IIMs, and other top-tier institutes. For mid- and senior-level talent, we’re hiring from leading SaaS companies in India. Our move into Pune was strategic, opening access to a new talent pool in southern India.

Equally important is talent development. We run regular AI certifications, leadership programs, and management training for our senior leaders to ensure they have the right skills for the future. Our focus is not only on hiring but also on retaining and nurturing top talent.

Finally, how do you see the role of UKG India evolving in the coming years?

India is already more than an execution hub, we are leading global mandates. For example, in addition to my India role, I also head global engineering for UKG’s HCM product, with teams spread worldwide. Many of our leaders in India similarly manage global functions.

We also have multiple products that are completely led end-to-end from India, engineering, product management, and program management. This model has been proven and will continue to expand. Over the next few years, India will play an even larger role in innovation and product leadership, driving global outcomes for UKG.