Even as numerous major technology conglomerates have been making efforts to hire in the United States, Larsen and Toubro Infotech has said that the firm's focus remains on India and that is where most of the hiring activity is going to take place.
While the firm earlier sent many workers from India to the US on H-1B visas, the firm now plans to hire a few local talents and carry out a majority of work through offshore operations.
"This year we have said we will hire around 1,500 freshers and maybe up to 1,000 laterals (both in India and overseas). And I am not going to increase my onsite ratio. So, we will hire some locals for onsite but predominately bulk of the hiring will happen in India," Sanjay Jalona, CEO at L&T Infotech, told BusinessLine.
"So 24 per cent I am saying don't change the onsite ratio. The same percentage of people will get hired in the US and obviously we want to hire more number of locals. Suppose you are hiring 5 people out of 60 (posted onsite) in the past locally, now you may want to hire 25 people out of 50."
Even though L&T Infotech plans to hire a few locals in the US for onsite operations, the plan may take some time to materialise as Jalona believes that procuring the right kind of talent in the US is not easy. He explained that the firm has been facing issues when it comes to onsite workforce in the US as talent is not readily available. Instead, the firm has been carrying out business through video conferencing. "Using these technologies we do more work even offshore," Jalona added.
Speaking of the change in H-1B visa norms and other government regulations Jalona said that the impact hasn't been massive yet, but will slowly have an effect. He was, however, thankful that L&T Infotech's presence is much smaller in the UK due to which Brexit will not have any major effect on the firm.
"I think there are a good amount of opportunities. Obviously, the protectionist environment will also come into play both in the US and the UK. Thank god we have small mercies in the Netherlands and France....but otherwise I think its positive overall," he said.
Meanwhile, numerous IT firms have ramped up hiring in the US after the Donald Trump administration expressed displeasure over US firms outsourcing jobs to other countries. Indian IT giants such as Infosys and Tech Mahindra too have said that they plan to hire a large number of employees in the US.
