TCS expects to exceed hiring target for FY15

Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest information technology services company, said it expected to exceed its hiring target for the ongoing financial year, of 55,000.

"We will definitely exceed that target," said Ajoyendra Mukherjee, global head for human resources of the Mumbai-headquartered company.

Of the total, the target for fresh graduates through campus recruitment was 35,000. Of this, the company has given offers to about 31,000, visiting 370 engineering colleges and institutions. The rest of the freshers would be recruited through its 'pool campus' programme, wherein the selection would happen in one place instead visiting each location separately, said Mukherjee.

It has made no change to the pay package offered to freshers over recent years, still Rs 3.2-3.5 lakh a year. Mukherjee said this was a supply-side issue, to be reviewed when appropriate. Last year, TCS had introduced an extra 'city allowance', differing among cities where those hired were posted.

Among Indian IT service companies, TCS is perhaps the only one to have kept its hiring momentum almost intact, on the back of steady business performance and outlook.It has 313,757 employees on its rolls, from 119 nationalities. This makes it the largest private sector employer in India.

Regarding the reports on TCS' plan to review the performance of middle and senior-level employees, Mukherjee said this was not new but a continuous process.

"We are a performance-oriented organisation and look at each individual. We would like people to come in and make a career, and continue to grow…while doing so, there are some business needs and people aspirations and both have to match to a certain extent. This results in some involuntary attrition. It's not a target-driven exercise," he added.

Relatively, its employee attrition rate has been low. In the quarter ended September, this was 12.8 per cent, slightly higher than in the previous quarter. The company had said this was primarily due to the seasonal employee movement.