The top four Indian software companies continue to be on a hiring spree with the total number of employees likely to cross 6 lakh by the end of current financial year.
As of quarter ended December 2011, the total employees with the top four companies was 5.91 lakh – with only 9,000 left for the magical figure of 6 lakh.
In other words, nearly 30 per cent of the total 20 lakh IT workforce will be working with the top companies.
Top officials of both Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have indicated that there would not be any major change in the hiring plan due to the global issues like the Euro crisis and budget cuts by customers.
Says Mr E. Balaji of MaFoi Ranstad, a global HR company, to cross 6 lakh would be a significant number for the top four. With nearly 30 per cent of total IT workforce, it shows the process of consolidation among them and a trend similar to the other sectors like FMCG, he said.
Infosys' CEO, Mr S. D. Shibulal, told analysts that said there was no reconsidering the recruitment plan for this year. “We had planned for 45,000 recruitments this year and I think we will end up at 47,000 (gross). We have given 20,000 offers for next year.”
Similarly, Mr N. Chandrasekaran, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, said: “We want to be prepared for next financial year and we will be adding additional 15,000 people at least during the last quarter. We are not seeing a cause for alarm of any kind for us to stop hiring.”
Net addition
The net hiring slowed down significantly in the December 2011 quarter when compared to the previous quarter. The top four added only 21,985 employees (net), as against a record hiring of 29,918 (net) in the previous quarter. All the four companies added less number of employees (net) during the December quarter when compared to the previous quarter.
Mr Siddharth Pai, partner with Information Services Group, said that as the industry moves into the first calendar quarter, there is some uncertainty especially with respect to the macro environment in Europe.
During the December quarter, most clients set their budgets and service provider firms usually wait until they have greater visibility into budgets before stepping up hiring. This is probably what has caused a let up in hiring during the last quarter, he said.