Trump's protectionist policies changed nothing for TCS on ground: Chandra

TCS has trained 2 lakh employees with 6 lakh competencies on emerging digital technologies: Chandra

Amid heightened concerns over protectionism in the Western markets, TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran on Friday said "nothing has changed" for the country's largest software exporter on visas and the company continues to operate "successfully" across markets, including its largest market the US.

"On the ground, nothing has changed. We continue to operate successfully; we continue to recruit people in every market," Chandrasekaran, who got elevated as the Tata Sons chairman earlier this year, told TCS shareholders at AGM here.

He said TCS adheres to local laws in every country it operates in and is among the "top recruiter" in each of those markets, including the US which is the largest for the it as well as the domestic industry netting almost 65 percent of their income.

Significantly, group patriarch Ratan Tata was conspicuously absent at the AGM.

It can be noted that TCS had drastically reduced the number of visa applications to the US to a third of the normal, much before Donald Trump came to occupy the White House. It had also said it would be hiring 10,000 in the US, the largest revenue contributing geography.

New chief executive Rajesh Gopinathan said TCS had hired 79,000 globally last fiscal year, including 11,500 in foreign markets.

Chandrasekaran, who was the CEO of TCS before being elevated as Tata Sons chairman in February, said global business environment is increasingly adopting digital and the world is transforming fast.

With business leaders speaking of data as the new oil, the head of the salt-to-software conglomerate said data excellence will be the most important theme in the future and hold true for all the sectors beyond IT.

He said TCS has trained two lakh employees with six lakh competencies on the emerging digital technologies.

Seeking to address the concerns on the future, Chandrasekaran said TCS has seen many disruptive changes over its journey and has continued to stay relevant by being ahead of the curve. He said TCS' digital revenues grew 28 per cent to $3 billion in FY17.

"The future of technology is very bright and we have immense opportunities. We are working strong and hard to grow and scale new heights," he said.

Gopinathan said operational agility, cloud and automation will be his focus area in FY18.