For Indian employees working in IT software services companies such as Wipro, Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra, the current phase is easily a depressing one. Large-scale layoffs are staring at them due to the challenges being faced by the $150 billion industry.
In sharp contrast, some of these companies such as Infosys are planning to ramp up hiring locals (Americans) in the US, the biggest source of revenues for the industry (North America contributes about 60 percent of the export revenues). Of course, there are no numbers of local hiring by Indian IT companies in the past to plot trends.
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Bengaluru-based Mindtree is one such company gung-ho on the recruitment of Americans. "We have been consistently investing and ramping up our local delivery centers for the last five years," Rostow Ravanan, chief executive and managing director of the company, told Business Standard last week.
"Our Gainesville delivery center has partnered with the University of Florida not only to design a curriculum for its highly rated engineering program but also to hire graduates from there as well as from other schools in the state," he added.
The company had 16,470 employees as of March 31, 2017 and reported weak results for the fourth quarter (Q4) ended March this year. Its net profit fell 26.8 percent to Rs. 97.2 crore while revenues remained almost flat at Rs. 1,318 crore.
Another smaller player in the IT space, Persistent Systems, is also planning to ramp up hiring in the US. "We have created capacity in the US to hire local talent. Technology shift is creating that opportunity," Anand Deshpande, founder and CMD of the company told Business Standard.
Hiring by the top three IT services companies — TCS, Wipro and Infosys — was muted in the financial year gone by. TCS hired 33,380 employees, Infosys 6,320 and Wipro 8,650 on a net basis, data gleaned from the regulatory filings reveal.
As of March 31, 2017, TCS had 3,87,223 employees, Infosys 2,00,364 and Wipro (IT services only) had 1,65,481 employees.
Stock markets are on a roll, as if unmindful of these developments. After scaling new highs on Wednesday, benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading with gains on Thursday also. At around 12 noon, the 30-scrip Sensex was up 104 points at 30,352 while the 50-scrip Nifty was trading at 9449, a gain of 42 points.
IT stocks were trading with marginal gains on Thursday. Infosys was up 0.10 percent at Rs. 944, TCS was up 0.15 percent at Rs. 2,336, Wipro was trading with 0.33 percent gain at Rs. 502, Tech Mahindra was up 0.45 percent at Rs. 432 and Mindtree at Rs. 502 (gain of 0.36 percent).
