News Snippets

If it was retrenchment and pink slips a few summers ago after the tech
bubble burst and 9/11 attacks impacting investments and recruitment in
the technology sector, it is a different story now.

...

HCL saw its employee roster expand by close to 70 per cent.

Source: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13566013

Complete article:

> If it was retrenchment and pink slips a few summers ago after the tech
> bubble burst and 9/11 attacks impacting investments and recruitment in
> the technology sector, it is a different story now.
>
> Companies are hiring rapidly to induct more techies and fight higher
> levels of attrition. Trends indicate that IT is back as a career
> destination with a bang.
>
> According to National Association of Software and Services Companies
> (Nasscom),"The Indian ICT industry, after a three-year lull is back on
> track, and hiring rapidly. The global economic downturn, which lasted
> over three years and brought in its wake pink slips, benching and
> retrenchment, appears like a thing of the past. Indian IT services
> companies, which were impacted by this slowdown and put a cap on their
> hiring to cut costs and maintain momentum, are getting back into the
> swing of things and its beginning to look like business as usual."
>
> There appears to be an upsurge in demand for professionals with
> specialised expertise. This demand has picked up since most large IT
> players have moved up the value chain, transcending the software coding
> and maintenance barriers to get into the high-end IT consulting, systems
> integration, infrastructure management, package implementation and
> product development realms. But the availability of for highly skilled
> manpower is becoming acute. This heightened recruitment has been further
> fuelled by transnational companies setting up R&D centres in the
> country.
>
> A recent market survey by McKinsey featuring 5,500 senior corporate
> leaders, one-third of European companies with revenues higher than $1
> billion, prefer India to China as an R&D destination. Within Asia
> Pacific, India is looked upon as a source of talent. The survey revealed
> that 71 per cent of respondents considered India a key source for
> talent.
>
> Outlining the Indian tech scenario, Nasscom noted that Indian IT
> companies expanded their employee base by almost 45 per cent during
> 2003-04 and reported brisk hiring in the first quarter of 2004.
>
> MNCs too are focussing on expansion and hiring. As competition,
> particularly within the offshore IT services outsourcing market is
> heating up, leading global MNCs in the country are beefing up their
> operations and manpower base to face the challenges. The idea is to
> combat the strength of Indian companies, which have made tremendous
> headway in the IT services exports segment and have large software
> development facilities across the country.
>
> While Accenture, Ernst & Young and IBM Global Services stepped up hiring
> during 2003-04, domestic majors such as Wipro added around 12,000
> employees for its outsourcing business by the fiscal year ending March
> 31, 2004.
>
> Infosys added over 8,000 people in 2004 - - that works out to about 52
> per cent of its employee base in 2003. Satyam added 44 per cent of its
> 2003 employee base during 2004. HCL saw its employee roster expand by
> close to 70 per cent.
>
> Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, HCL, Hughes Software, i-flex, Mastek and Patni
> together added over 26,000 people in 2003-04.
>