Bengaluru, Mar 3 (IANS): Global digital payments platform PayPal on Wednesday said that it will hire 1,000 engineers for its India Development Centres across Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad over the course of the year.

The move comes despite PayPal announcing last month that it had decided to wind down its domestic payment services in India from April 1.

From April 1, the company will focus all its attention on enabling more international sales for Indian businesses.

Revealing the hiring plans for the year in India, the digital payments major said that talent will be hired across software, product development, data science, risk analytics and business analytics streams at entry, mid-level and senior roles.

PayPal India also announced its plans for campus hires from top engineering colleges across India.

"Our India Technology Centres are the largest for PayPal outside of the U.S. and play a pivotal role in enabling us to constantly innovate and remain ahead of the curve," Guru Bhat, Vice President Omni Channel & Customer Success, GM -- PayPal India, said in a statement.

"As digital payments move from a nice to have to an essential service, we are focused on investing in and nurturing world class technology talent to continue to offer products and services that meet the needs of our growing base of consumers and merchants."

The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital payments and highlighted the benefits of adopting a digital first approach.

PayPal said that its products and services have become even more relevant now and hence the need to focus on technology innovation across Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, data science, risk and security, customer experience and other key areas.

The India Technology Centres currently employs over 4,500 people across the three centres.