WNS Holdings plans to add 5,000 jobs this year

WNS Holdings, India's second-largest provider of back-office services, will add as many as 5,000 jobs this year to keep growing faster than rivals, Chief Executive Officer Neeraj Bhargava said.

"Our industry is growing at a very healthy clip of 34 per cent and WNS is growing faster," Bhargava said in an interview from New York. The Mumbai-based company added 4,500 positions last year and now employs about 15,000 people, mostly in India.

Bhargava plans to spend $36 million this year to set up more facilities for operating call centers and managing financial, legal and administrative data for the European and US clients.

WNS boosted wages by more than 10 per cent in April to stem defection of employees to competitors, including Genpact and Wipro, and to boost recruitment.

After accounting for so-called repair payments, the sales increased 49 per cent to $219.7 million for the year ended March 31, with net income gaining 45 per cent to $26.6 million, the company said in a statement on May 14.

About half of the revenue was generated from Europe and 36 per cent from North America, Bhargava said. The sales may increase as much as 39.7 per cent this year, the company forecast in May.

"Given the fact that the dollar is weak, we have a very high revenue concentration from Europe and the UK, which makes our revenue stream very strong in the current environment,'' Bhargava said today.

The rupee's appreciation against the US dollar reduces the value of earnings repatriated to India for many WNS's competitors, including Wipro.

The US dollar's depreciation against the Indian rupee by each percentage point, or 100 basis points, would lead to a 50 basis point decrease in profit margins, WNS Chief Financial Officer Zubin Dubash said in May.