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.