Indian IT consultancies ramp up hiring to meet outsourcing demand
Given the increasing demand for digital services amongst IT firms across the globe, Indian IT services giants Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services have begun ramping up their recruitment, not only to help meet domestic demand but also to match the growing trend towards outsourcing.
Digital disruption has been the buzzword circulating across most of the global business environment in recent years. The sectors most directly affected by technological advancement are those that rely on digital implements, such as the entertainment & media, advertising and software development.
Nevertheless, the advent of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, blockchain and other industry 4.0 technologies have resulted in a scenario where businesses operating in all sectors are now able to make their internal operations more efficient and therefore improve the speed and quality of their services.
As a result, firms in every sector are scrambling to undergo comprehensive digital transformations in order to remain competitive in the contemporary market, and are turning to IT services firms for support with the same. In this context, digital services is another sector among those most affected by digital disruption.
“If you look at any of the contracts that have been spoken about, almost all of them bet on a very core technology transformation. That's what is leading to large contract wins. I would think bulk of it is yet to unfold,” explains Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer at Indian IT services firm TCS.
Gopinathan refers to the stream of business that the digital services sector is currently experiencing. Most of the projects being awarded are on a very large scale, involving digital transformation for a firm’s entire operation. To match this demand, the primary need for IT services firms is a pool of talent.
Larger IT services firms in India have already begun the process of building these talent pools, primarily through alterations of their recruitment policies. Both Infosys and TCS have recently announced that they will offer multiple times their usual entry-level salaries to candidates with specialised skills in the industry 4.0 domain.
Indian firms are also increasingly in demand for outsourced services, which also requires an expansive pool of expertise. As a result, recruitment numbers in India’s top IT firms – including TCS, Wipro and Infosys – has increased by 20 times in the quarter from July to September this year, with net-hiring numbers standing in excess of 40,000, as opposed to just over 2,000 last year.