As the global economy limps back to normalcy, Indian information technology companies are ready to hire from campuses.
Last year, placements at the engineering institutes were relatively subdued due to the slowdown in the economy. Many Tier-I and -II IT companies skipped campus visits. As a result, even the premier Indian Institutes of Technology were able to achieve only 75-80 per cent placements. And many students had opted for higher studies or jobs in teaching.
This year, however, both the Indian Institutes of Management and IITs confirmed that IT companies have approached them for placements. On an average, IT companies hire around 50 students each from engineering campuses and 20 students from management institutes.
The IITs say IT majors like Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Yahoo, Amazon, Oracle, Intel and Cognizant have assured them of participation.
Moreover, Tier-I IT firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro have said they would firm up the number for campus hiring only after their third quarter results (October-December 2009). Placements at the IITs will begin from December 1.
"Many IT companies have indicated they would come on the campus after the third quarter results (October-December 2009) in January 2010. They, however, have not indicated the numbers they would hire," says a placement student from IIT-Roorkee and Kanpur.
Infosys Technologies is expected to hire around 20,000 for the next financial year.
"We are yet to finalise the exact number. Assuming we have a 10 per cent attrition rate, we expect to hire 20,000 people in next fiscal. The job scenario in Indian technology is reasonably better than last year," says Mohandas Pai, head of human resources, Infosys.
The company has increased its hiring target for financial year 2009-10 from 16,000 to 20,000. Of this, close to 2,000 would be lateral (experienced people) implying the remaining would be freshers.
India's largest IT company, TCS, is yet to firm up the numbers for FY11 hiring, but it will start visiting campuses from early next year, says a company official. TCS's ratio of freshers to lateral is 70:30.
Patni Computer Systems will hire 1,200-1,500 for the year 2010. Of this, almost 75 per cent will be freshers and the company will be visiting campuses towards mid-December, according to Rajesh Padmanabhan, EVP, global head -- human resources at Patni.
"IT companies have shown more interest than last year. A lot of people who came back from the technical side of IT now want to join on the managerial side," says Rohan Jaikishen, member, placements committee, IIM-Kozhikode.
