American automotive aftermarket parts provider Advance Auto Parts, a USD 10 billion company, opened its Global Capability Centre (GCC) at Kokapet today.
The Hyderabad centre is the second largest such centre outside of the company's headquarters in North Carolina in the United States.
Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao inaugurated the GCC and thanked the company for choosing Hyderabad as its destination outside of the United States.
He said that the company had set up the GCC in 65,000 square yards, and that it would provide employment to about 450 people.
He urged the company to make the city its single-stop-shop for all its business needs.
KTR added that Hyderabad was becoming a hub for automobile technology, and that abundant opportunities were available in Telangana for investors.
"We are also going to host the Formula-E next year in February, and also plan to host the Electric Vehicle Summit at around the same time. It is a great time for Advance Auto Parts to create its presence in Hyderabad," the minister said.
Advance Auto Parts CEO and President Tom Greco termed Hyderabad a mobility cluster, and said that they chose the city for setting up the GCC after going through multiple options like Taiwan, the US and even Bengaluru in India.
"The vibrant talent pool and growing infrastructure are the major factors which made us zero down on Hyderabad to set up our GCC. Last year we had the highest growth in the history of the company, and this came majorly from the contributions of the Hyderabad centre. Going ahead, we are planning to invest more in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities," Greco said.