Infosys to add 20,756 seats this fiscal year

Source: mydigitalfc.com
Infosys Technologies has decided to go ahead with its ongoing expansion plans despite the company not being able to predict back-ended growth at the end of the fiscal.

The expansion was already in the pipeline, but it was unclear whether it would be completed in time because of the recessionary impact.

However, the company has now indicated that the gloomy revenue predictions will not hit expansion. Most of the expansion will happen in Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad. In Chennai it is adding 8,500 seats, in Pune 2,831 and Hyderabad 2,600. There are no new infrastructure projects planned though.
This year, Infosys will spend Rs 650 crore for the expansions, though just half of the Rs 1,350 crore it spend in FY09.

Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai said that the company expects to add 20,756 seats nationally during this fiscal taking its total seat capacity to 1,15,000 seats. It stood at 95,000 at end of FY09.

These expansion projects in Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mysore and others were mostly taken up in FY08 and were postponed due to various factors including rise in cement prices and construction delays. A majority of the budget expenses for these projects have already been put aside in previous fiscals, an official said.

Shibulal, however, said that things are getting tougher for the IT player and that it is undertaking this expansion plan despite the financial environment. “Infosys does not see a turn around happening evening during March next year,” he said. The company has given revenue guidance in single digits for the first time.

While a few of the company’s clients has fixed its budgets for the year, a few of them have further deferred it, according to a company official who did not want to be identified. While AT&T is likely to decide on the budget this month, a few other US clients have not frozen the budgets yet.