Global IT consultants ramp up

Foreign information technology and consulting companies are rapidly ramping up their operations in India to capitalise on the cost advantages and value offered by local manpower.

Accenture, Hewitt Associates and CGI are some leading foreign companies that plan to up their headcount in India this financial year.

Consulting firm Accenture opened its ninth software development centre with a capacity of 1,600 seats in Pune on June 1. The company has grown to have more than 17,500 employees from about 4,000 in 2003, up nearly 437 per cent in about three years.

An Accenture spokesperson told Business Standard, "Accenture employs nearly 13.15 per cent of its employees in India, second to the US. It is the largest country in its global delivery network."

As for IBM India, its employee headcount rose to 43,000 in May 2006 from 9,000 in March 2003 and is expected to go up further by the end of the current financial year. IBM employs 7,200 people in China, 9,000 in Brazil and 5,125 in Eastern Europe. After the US, India is the largest source of recruitment for the company.

The biggest Indian software company, Tata Consultancy Services, in contrast, employs about 60,000 people. Infosys Technologies' employee strength is 52,000.

An IBM spokesperson said: "Our company is a globally integrated company where strategy is not just about providing competitive pricing to clients, but also about providing maximum value. It is not just about cost, but building high-value services wherever they can be best delivered from". However, he declined to reveal the company's future plans.

Hewitt Associates provides services in global human resources outsourcing and is a consulting firm delivering a complete range of human capital management services.

In India, Hewitt employs 2,500 professionals and the number is likely to go up to 3,500 by September 2006.

Chaiti Sen, consulting leader with Hewitt Associates, said "The use of variable pay as a strategic lever continues to be an important means of attracting and retaining talent".

Martina Mokas, IT recruiter at CGI Mumbai, said "organisations have been driven to spend each dollar wisely. Considering this, we will increase our strength by 25% in a couple of months from 1,000 employees now."

The global consulting companies are gunning for offshore supremacy and the home-grown companies "" Infosys, Wipro, TCS "" should be prepared to face greater competition on their home turf.