India’s second-largest information technology services provider, Infosys Technologies, has raised its hiring target for financial year 2009-10 by 2,000 — from 18,000 to 20,000 people — to cope with the increase in offshore (that is, on Indian shores) work.
Top officials said today the change is in line with the company’s growth plans and further expansion at its development centres in Asia and the Americas. A majority of the 2,000 additional people to be brought into the company’s rolls by March 2010 will be hired laterally (experienced hands).
The company had earlier planned to hire 18,000 in the year to March 2010, with at least 16,000 freshers set to join its rolls by March 31, 2010.
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“The company has seen its share of offshore revenues increasing to 54 per cent as of September 30 from 52.7 per cent a year earlier,” Infosys chief executive and managing director S Gopalakrishnan.
“We are provisioning for the economic recovery and further improvements in the offshoring market in the coming quarters. We will be hiring more laterals because when growth returns, we should not be caught unprepared,” Balakrishnan said.
Infosys’ second development centre, which is more of a nearshore centre positioned at the US and Latin American markets, is coming up at Monterrey in north-eastern Mexico, while its first development centre is being set up in Brazil. The Mexico operations are about 350 people strong, while the Chinese operations have crossed 1,000 people. The new Thiruvananthapuram development centre is currently in hiring mode, Gopalakrishnan said.
To improve employee retention and counter the economic slump, Infosys has increased its investment on training to Rs 870 crore from Rs 750 crore earlier.
“With the pricing environment stabilising, we see increasing traction for our systems integration services due to the number of mergers and acquisitions happening, especially in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) segment,” Infosys Chief Operating Officer S D Shibulal said.
Commenting on allegations against CEOs of many companies who are said to be receiving inordinately high salaries and perks, T V Mohandas Pai, member of Infosys board and Head - HRD and Education and Research, said: “At Infosys, the CEO and COO, who are among the founding members of the company, have opted for lower salaries than other top executives who are employees. Let me add that none of our top executives are paid vulgar salaries.”
At the end of the second quarter of financial year 2010 ending September 30, Infosys and its subsidiaries, including Infosys BPO, increased their collective headcount by over 4,500 employees on a net basis to 100,000.
The attrition rate at Infosys decreased to 10.9 per cent in the second quarter ended September 30, registering a significant decline from 12.8 per cent a year ago. Voluntary attrition declined to 7.5 per cent in the second quarter from 8.4 per cent in the previous June quarter, Pai said.
However, attrition in the BPO division touched 35 per cent during the second quarter, thanks to delays in salary payments.
