In anticipation of an increasing demand from the outsourcing sector, Tata Consultancy Services is to hire an additional 5,000 personnel this year than earlier announced.

The country’s largest software exporter would also recruit 25,000 trainees from campuses for financial year 2015, who are expected join from July next year onwards.

“Given the way things are, given the way we have been growing and looking at demand, we are increasing total number of hiring from 45,000 to 50,000 this year,” TCS Executive Vice-President and Global Head for Human Resources Ajoy Mukherjee, said.

At the start of the current financial year, the company had estimated to recruit a gross of about 45,000 personnel.

“From the hiring point of view, it (second quarter) has been a good quarter,” Mukherjee said, adding that the IT bellwether hired more than 17,000 gross personnel and 7,600 net during the three month period ended September 30.

TCS, which posted a stellar second-quarter earnings on Tuesday that pushed its share prices to an all-time high, had hired 10,611 people in its first quarter.

Campus offer

On the trainee front, the Tata group company would offer 25,000 campus placements starting in the seventh semester. This time again, the IT major intends to visit 370-400 institutions.

Last year also TCS visited 370 educational institutes and recruited close to 25,000 trainees. “They have started joining from this quarter onwards, so we have about 6,300 trainees who joined in second quarter and the remaining would join in third and fourth quarters,” Mukherjee said.

TCS expects the joining ratio to be higher as compared with that earlier. “Earlier, it used to be in the range of 69-70 per cent, now it’s in the range of 70-72 per cent.” However, the company does not see an increase in salaries from that of a year ago.

“TCS has always honoured all its (hiring) commitments; we have never taken any offer and pushed it to the next financial year. We ask everybody to join in the same financial year,” Mukherjee said, adding that its utilisation levels stood at 83.4 per cent in Q2.

Utilisation levels (employees on engagements that are directly billed to the customer) of trainees had also improved from 72.5 per cent to 75 per cent.

> rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in