Infosys, India’s second largest IT services company is banking on ex-defence personnel in the US to staff its subsidiary which works in the highly-sensitive government and healthcare segments in the country.
Majority of the employees of Infosys’s US subsidiary, Infosys Public Services, are ex-army and marine personnel who help in enhancing the credibility to bag projects sponsored by the national and state governments in the US. They also help the company in getting various security clearances faster what civilians might find quite difficult.
“While all the employees of Infosys Public Services are based out of the US, a significant chunk of them are ex-military personnel. They get security clearances required to work for various government projects faster than normal civilians even though we don’t do any defence works in the US,” said Ashok Vemuri, Head of Americas who is also in the board of Infosys Public Services.
For example, Eric Paternoster, CEO and President of Infosys Public Services (IPS) is a former Army captain who led infantry units in Korea and the US before joining the corporate world.
Infosys Public Services (IPS) was set up as a subsidiary of the Bangalore-based company in late 2011. However, the subsidiary started hiring and ramping up only towards the beginning of the fiscal year after obtaining the necessary approvals from the US government. The company which employs about 200 people has signed about 40 contracts with the US government and federal states in a span of just eight months.
In the quarter ended September 30, 2012, Infosys Public Services reported revenues of $24.88 million even though it is yet to start making profit.
Both government and healthcare are big areas of opportunities for Indian IT services companies. However, the laws in certain US states prohibit taking sensitive information to offshore locations thereby limiting the ability of the Indian IT services players to participate in those contracts. Similarly, healthcare service is also controlled by various government restrictions in the US.
Infosys which derives close to 64 per cent of its revenues from North America is also ramping up its headcount in the US. The company expects to hire about 2,000 people in the US by the end of 2012 as against about 1,200 last year.
In order to step up the hiring process in the country, Infosys has now aligned the hiring process with the industry verticals. Besides, in some of the newer contracts, Infosys is giving options to the employees of the clients to join the company.
“We are doing more and more deals which have a rebadging element. If you take the Harley-Davidson deal, we have given an option as per which their employees can interview with us if they desire to seek a job,” said Vemuri.
