Infosys to hire 40,000, TCS to hire 50,000 in the ongoing fiscal

As growth returns to the software industry, major IT companies in India are stepping up their hiring plans for the next few quarters to meet the reviving demand in the US and European markets.

Infosys has announced plans of hiring 40,000 new employees in the ongoing fiscal, up from the earlier projection of 36,000.The largest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has revised its hiring plans to add 50,000 people this fiscal against earlier target of 30,000 persons.

According to chairman of Wipro, Azim Premji,"There was strong momentum in demand (during the September quarter)... While the macro-economic environment continues to remain uncertain, there is higher degree of confidence at the micro level."

According to industry body Nasscom, the Indian IT industry is estimated to have added 90,000 jobs during FY'10, taking the workforce to 2.3 million professionals. With demand for workforce returning, attrition rates have also gone up. While TCS reported an attrition rate of 14.1 per cent, Infosys saw attrition rates to the tune of 17.1 per cent for the quarter ended September 30, 2010.

According to Sunil Goel, director of GlobalHunt, " During the recession period in 2008 and 2009, many companies either did not offer salary hikes and some went in for compensation cut. Now with demand for IT services returning to the market, companies are ramping up headcount and offering good packages to meet the demand."

Also, most companies hired minimally from campuses last year since clients across major markets like the US and the Europe were in recession and were cutting down on IT spends. However, campus hiring is set to pick up after the lag experienced during the slowdown. The country’s top software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services , intends to step up the number of offers made to students on campus to 30,000 this year from about 20,000 last year as demand for IT and back office services bounces back, said Ajoy Mukherjee, global head (HR), TCS.

Most companies hired minimally from campuses last year because their major markets were in recession and clients were cutting down on tech spends. TCS, for instance, had to increase its intake of freshers through off-campus drives in the second quarter to fulfil the higher demand. “Off-campus drives are for freshers, primarily for students who have already passed out. So, yes, it is a bit of a challenge to get in touch with them. Campus recruitment is the best possible way to hire because it gives you maximum throughput,” said Mr Mukherjee.

While TCS visited 370 institutes for campus hiring last year, this year it will visit more campuses and also hire more.

The company is yet to decide on whether to offer higher salaries for those recruited from campuses. “It is very difficult to say. I perceive that for the industry there may be a slight change — maybe a marginal upward revision, but I am still collecting data and our talent-acquisition team is looking at it,” said Mr Mukherjee.

Since many freshers joined the firm in the third and fourth quarters of last year, when demand started showing an uptick, TCS has decided to tweak the appraisal cycle, making freshers eligible for promotion much earlier. Normally, promotions at the junior level are annual and are based on performance and experience. This time, they will become eligible for promotion during the quarter itself if they have the requisite experience, instead of having to wait till the year end, Mr Mukherjee said. The change will take effect from this quarter.