Thursday, June 5, 2008

Foreign IT firms recruiting 40,000 in India

by Jo Black

Despite US slowdown and rupee appreciation pulling down revenue growth, Indian IT professionals will remain in demand thanks to global software firms expanding their employee capacity in India, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

In the last three months, foreign IT firms have announced their plans of hiring 40,000 people in India within the next two years, as revealed by an ASSOCHAM Eco Pulse Study.

This would be a significant development for the job market as the shrinking margins had dimmed the hiring outlook of the Indian IT majors.

The foreign firms planning the intake of 40,000 was announced during January to April 2008, as against the headcount increase of a mere 4400 declared by Indian software companies.

Information Technology, which is one of the highest employment generating segments in the services sector, has been feeling the pressure of the increased value of the Rupee against the dollar, rising wage inflation and slowdown in the US economy.

At the time when Indian firms seem to be curtailing wage hikes and right-sizing staff strength to prevent squeezing margins, the robust headcount expansion plans of the foreign IT companies renders a positive outlook to the job market, said Mr. Venugopal N Dhoot, President, ASSOCHAM.

The Indian growth story seems to be intact for these global software service providers, most of which are set to ramp up their operations in India.

The largest headcount expansion activity has been planned by US based Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).

The company has announced the headcount addition of 16500 in the next two years.

The second largest announcement for headcount increase was made by the global BPO giant Cognizant, which plans to raise its Indian staff by 14,700 this year.

The UK based Zylog Systems has drawn up hiring plans of more than 4000 employees.

Xansa, a UK based technology firm, has announced plans to double headcount in its India operations from 5200 to 10,000 in three years.

Ness Technologies, an Israel based firm, has announced the recruitment of 1000 people this year to its present staff of 2800.

Another firm, Vmware Inc, plans to raise its engineering staff to more than 1000 people in the next two years.

Among the Indian firms disclosing their hiring plans, Satyam Computer Services, one of the top IT firms, stated the addition of 3000 employees in the year 2008.

The cities which have been tapped most for the IT expansion are Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai.

 

 

 

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