IT Cos upbeat about hiring

Despite a grim business outlook, IT companies are upbeat about their hiring plans for the current financial year. According to estimates, the top ten software exporters alone are likely to hire over two lakh professionals ing 2012-13.

For instance, the country’s top two software exporters Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Infosys Technologies Ltd on Thursday have announced to hire over 85,000 employees together this fiscal.

The announcement comes at a time when the anti-outsourcing rehtoric is gaining momentum in the US, one of the largest markets for Indian companies and also when major outsourcing companies like General Motors are re-looking their business strategies. GM recently revealed plans to cut down its outsourcing business from 90 per cent to 10 per cent three years from now.

“Business may be slowing down in traditional markets but Indian firms are de-risking their geographic presence and finding new opportunities. Even within developed markets such as the US and the UK, the number of contracts is not falling but only getting delayed. The momentum is still upbeat,” T R Madan Mohan, Managing Partner, Browne & Mohan told Express.

While TCS plans to meet its earlier set target of hiring about 50,000 professionals this fiscal, Bangalore-based Infosys is expected to take 35,000 new recruits notwithstanding the concerns of a slowdown.

“We are going to add 35,000 more people this year, the same number as we guided last quarter for the full year,” said V Balakrishnan, CFO, Infosys.

The number includes 13,000 people for the BPO operations. The company witnessed an attrition of about 14.9% for the June quarter compared to 15.8% in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Others such as Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, iGate, Mahindra Satyam and HCL Technologies are likely to retain their set hiring targets.