Indian information technology major Infosys plans to hire 35,000 people in the 2012-13 financial year, with 1,200 of the jobs in the United States and Europe, company officials said Friday. Infosys, India's second-largest software services exporter, has 149,000 employees with an annual attrition of about 14 to 15 per cent.
Infosys chief SD Shibulal said the on-site hiring policy was in line with the company's strategy to acquire people with local expertise. The company hired 45,000 people in the current financial year and this would come down in view of bleak prospects for the industry, whose biggest markets are the US and Europe. The country's IT firms have been adversely affected by the eurozone crisis and the economic slowdown in the US, besides a sharp devaluation of the rupee in the past year. It has also been impacted by a campaign against outsourcing in the US and some European Union countries.
At a press briefing in Bangalore to announce the company's financial results, Shibulal said Infosys was expecting revenue growth of 8 to 10 per cent in the 2012-13 financial year, which was much lower than growth of 22.7 per cent in 2011-12. India's financial year runs from April to March.
Infosys reported a net profit of 83.16 billion rupees (1.6 billion dollars) in 2011-12 which was a 21.9-per-cent growth over the previous fiscal. The results and forecast sent Infosys stocks tumbling by 12.61 per cent to 2,493.30 rupees (about 48.59 dollars) at the Bombay Stock Exchange.