Infosys to freeze fresh hiring, opts for economic prudence

New Delhi, Dec 4: India's second largest exporter of IT services Infosys Technologies has decided to freeze its annual hiring cycle following the global economic slowdown that is increasingly impacting the Indian outsourcing story.

Infosys had planned to hire 25,000 people earlier this year, and of this the company has till date created jobs for about 16,000-17,000, company chief executive Kris Gopalakrishnana said here Thursday.

"We will honour job commitments to 6,000 people who are currently under training but have currently stalled fresh recruitment," he said at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The company also runs a two-monthly paid internship summer programme for undergraduate students of various universities worldwide. But whether the programme would be axed is yet to be decided, Gopalakrishnan said.

Gopalakrishnan, who said the slowing growth rate of the outsourcing industry was the primary reason behind the decision to freeze fresh recruitments, however, denied Infosys was looking at downsizing.

"Last year the IT industry grew more than 30 percent, this year it is looking at somewhere in the region of 15 percent. We will have to look at controlling our cost, controlling our expenses, and making sure that we run an optimised business," he said.

Gopalakrishnan said his Bangalore-based Infosys spends about $1.7 million annually on training and induction of new staff, which he said would be brought down.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the IT industry trade body, had earlier this year forecast a 21 percent growth for the outsourcing industry.

Orders have dwindled because of the slowdown in the US, which accounts for more than 60 percent of Indian software exports, Gopalakrishnan admitted, even while predicting the industry would return to its 30-35 percent growth trajectory once the situation eased.

--IANS