Mphasis to tap rural workforce

The company, which doubled its employee strength to 28,000 after it was acquired by EDS this year, is planning to add 8,000 seats in 2008 mainly from these cities. Every month, it would add 1,000 people for the next one year.

Speaking to Business Standard R Elango, chief human resources officer, Mphasis, said currently with more companies moving to tier II and III cities, real estate prices and packages for employees had gone up.

For instance, Bangalore, which was a tier II city a decade ago, became a metro in 2005 and this has pushed up the real estate prices and compensation packages to new highs.

The current tier II and tier III cities, which are under the IT/ITEs companies radar will become metros in the next 10 years. To grab this opportunity, Mphasis is planning to move further down from tier II and III cities.

"Not just for the cost, but also for supply of human resource, we want to take the early bird's advantage," said Elango.

Currently, the company is operating in five tier II cites including Puducherry, Indore, Ahmedabad, Mangalore and in Baroda.

In the next three years, Mphasis plans to employ 75,000 people of which 25 per cent would be from tier II and III cities and five per cent from rural areas, which would be increased gradually.

In Tamil Nadu, the company is planning to set up facilities in Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai. It has started the land acquisition process and the facilities would commence operations in a year or two. Trichy or Coimbatore facility alone would house around 2,000 employees, said Elango.

Mphasis facilities in Tamil Nadu would take care of applications and infrastructure management services, he added.