Tata Consultancy Services has no plans to stem any of its hiring plans for the year as it sees a positive outlook ahead for the sector. The country’s top software exporter continues to scout for acquisitions.

“It looks positive… There is no negative news,” Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director N. Chandrasekaran said.

TCS, according to its annual report, plans to hire about 60,000 freshers in FY13. The company is already in the midst of making campus offers to 43,604 students.

Eyes on Europe

The IT major is also scouting for acquisitions in the healthcare and products space across European countries.

“We keep looking for acquisitions. Our acquisitions have nothing to do with valuations, our acquisitions have to do with finding the right targets from a platform perspective or a solution perspective,” Chandrasekaran said.

Last week, in an analyst meet, TCS said second quarter volume growth would likely be lower than expected at 4.5-4.8 per cent as compared with the 5.3 per cent in the first quarter. The company cited reasons such as induction of freshers, ramping up of projects in India, low-margins in Asia-Pacific and a marginal shift to onsite for new deals. “It’s a combination of things. One thing that we will see is a slight shift in onsite and I don’t think utilisation is a concern,” Chandrasekaran said, adding that the company’s employee utilisation is more than 80 per cent.

Rupee front

On the rupee front, TCS chief said he was hopeful of the rupee strengthening.

“I think with all the steps being taken by the government, we should expect the rupee to strengthen. We knew always that 55 (level) was not sustainable,” he added.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in