Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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Mega Deals: $1 billion outsourcing contracts may come to India

Large outsourcing contracts worth up to $1 billion look set for a comeback this year, as companies from segments like retail, banking, telecom and utilities, apart from government bodies, seek to cope with renewed demand for their services and also lower their operational expenses.

Outsourcing experts and industry officials told ET last week that auto customers too are looking to award large contracts for managing their business and IT systems this year. British Petroleum’s IT contract worth $1.5 billion awarded to Indian vendors TCS, Infosys and Wipro early this year was one such mega deal.
Continue reading on EconomicTimes

Nucleus Software Exports to recruit 150

Noida-based global banking and finance solutions provider, Nucleus Software Exports, on Monday said the company, after the recession, is expecting better growth from exports and will also increase its headcount during the next six months.

“We have opportunities for businesses from new markets like Southeast Asia, West Asia. Business from countries in Europe and the US is also picking up now. We are already in talks with two new customers in UAE and Philippines for providing them solutions in banking and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). We will hire around 150 people in the next six months,” Niraj Vedwa, chief operating officer, Nucleus Software Exports, told FC.

Continue reading on FinancialChronicle

Thursday, February 11, 2010

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TCS, Wipro to hire 37,500 employees

With improving business sentiment and revival in IT spends, hiring seems to be back in full swing at software firm TCS and Wipro. Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest software exporter by revenue plans to hire 30,000 employees in the financial year 2010-2011. Wipro plans to add 7,500 people in the next two quarters.

Wipro handed out salary increments to all its employees. With effect from February 1, employees got a pay hike in the 8% to 12% range with some even getting a 15% increase.

Infosys had given a single-digit increment in October. It had announced an across-the-board raise and promotions with effect from October 1, 2009.

TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran said, "China is a tough market for IT firms and the company was seeing business opportunity in Europe." The company is currently seeing an 8-10% growth in revenue from domestic operations and is eyeing a double-digit growth in the next two years.

Chandrasekaran said the company had signed a few large deals as well as a number of smaller ones.
"The financial services sector will drive growth. We expect good growth from retail, pharma and utilities," he said.

The company, however, expects a lesser growth from verticals such as telecom and manufacturing.

Chandrasekaran said the company will hike salaries of its employees in the coming fiscal, but did not give details. TCS, has not hiked wages in the current fiscal, but employees have received 150 per cent VA payouts in two consecutive quarters -- Q2 and Q3 of FY'10.

"We are on a path to hire 1,000 people. We have already hired 300," he said, replying to a query on hiring plans for the current fiscal. In Q3 of FY-10, TCS had made 7,692 net additions, compared with a net addition of 320 in the previous quarter.

Asked about the extent to which India would be affected by the US move to slash tax-breaks to outsourcers, Chandrasekaran said the matter is not an immediate concern.

US president Barack Obama last month had said his administration would "slash the tax-breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas" and instead "give those tax-breaks to companies that create jobs in the country," which sent shivers down the industry's spine.

This is because the US accounts for almost 60 per cent of the IT exports from the country are to that market.

"The regulatory changes with regard to employment and outsourcing in any part of the world is something that we have to watch every day. You need to see how to align to that, but because of this, if you ask me if there is an immediate concern, then the answer is no," Chandrasekaran said.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wipro hikes salary, good news for IT

The smiles are back in Silicon Plateau. Wipro has just handed out salary increments to all its employees. With effect from February 1, employees will get a pay hike in the 8% to 12% range with some even getting a 15% increase.

Such a hike comes after a long dark tunnel — of 12 to 18 months — when employees went through a difficult period of layoffs, uncertainty, additional work loads, and salary freeze. A Wipro employee said she received the increment letter which indicated a 12% increase in salary. Several other employees also said they had received increment mails.

Wipro's head of HR Pratik Kumar, however, declined to talk about details. "Hikes are in the pipeline. We mentioned it during our third quarter financial results. We'll make a further announcement regarding the hike and percentage etc. only in February," he said.

A couple of mid-tier Wipro executives said the hike is a morale booster. "I was seriously exploring a job change. Now that I'm getting a hike close to 15%, I guess I should stay back," a senior project manager said.

Infosys had given a single-digit increment in October. It had announced an across-the-board raise and promotions with effect from October 1, 2009. Domestic salaries went up by 8% while onsite pay rose by 2%. "During the October-December quarter, our variable pay has been 100%, against 92% in the previous quarter. We'll be thinking of a further salary hike only in April 2010," said its HR head T V Mohandas Pai.