Infosys aims to hire around 6,000 engineers per year

New Delhi: Unfazed by the recent upheavals at the board, Infosys will continue to hire about 6,000 engineers annually over next 1-2 years, same as last fiscal, according to a company official.

The country’s second largest software services firm has also ramped up its hiring process in the US and European markets as it looks to tap opportunities and tide over visa- related issues.

“...we continue to recruit. This year that just concluded we had a net addition of 6,000 and we expect similar kind of additions over the next 1 or 2 years, depending on the kind of growth you see in the market,” Infosys interim-CEO and MD U.B. Pravin Rao said at an investor meet last week.

The Bengaluru-based firm has been in the eye of a storm over the past few months, with the founders and former board members clashing over alleged corporate governance lapses and irregularities in Infosys’ $200-million Panaya acquisition.

The spat, which often spilled over into the public domain, led to the then CEO Vishal Sikka as well as former chairman R. Seshasayee and three other board members quitting.

After Mr Sikka’s exit, Mr Rao assumed the additional charge as interim CEO and MD.

Mr Rao said over one million graduates pass out each year, which may look like a large number but only 20-30 per cent of that is quality talent.

“(This is the number that) we and our competitors focus on...It is a question of doing more with less, how can one be more productive,” he said while answering a query on whether increasing automation would result in job losses.

At the end of June 2017, Infosys had a total of 1,98,553 employees on its payroll. The company does not provide country-specific headcount. During the said quarter, Infosys hired 8,645 people at a gross level but its overall headcount was lower by 1,811 people on a net level (which factors in attrition numbers).