Slowdown effect: Infosys postpones campus recruitments

Infosys Technologies Limited would delay visiting the campuses for recruitment. Normally, it would start the recruitment processes during April or May. But with the slowdown in the businesses continuing, it temporarily has put off its plans for recruiting fresh talent. It might consider taking more people towards the end of the second quarter of the financial year 2009-10, said its chief executive officer and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan.

Interacting with the media on the sidelines of a session on South India@75, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said there would be a muted growth in the salary structures of the workforce this year. ''There would not be any cut in the salaries,'' he said. The top leadership of the company has already taken a 40 per cent cut in the variable pay.

On the reports that the company was eyeing acquisitions, Gopalakrishnan said there was no timeframe for the acquisitions but would continue to look for right companies. He declined to comment if the company had already identified the targets but said it broadly was looking at targets in consulting and BPO segments in the country. It was also looking to expand its footprint in Germany, France and Japan. It was continuing with the various expansion plans but at a slower rate.

With customers demanding more discounts due to the recession to cut costs, the company is trying to manage them with more value additions and new ideas. The IT services sector is in doldrums because the sectors it services are not doing good in the present market conditions. This fourth quarter is also going to be a tough one, he said.

The young graduates should look at other sectors too apart from IT atleast for two odd years as it would take the IT sector some time to recover. The career growth would not be at the same speed as it happened earlier. There are about 18,000 graduates who are waiting to join the rank and they would be inducted over a period of six months. Ofcourse, some would not join as they would go for higher studies.

On US President Barack Obama imposing strictures on outsourcing, Gopalakrishnan said the industry would adopt a wait and watch policy for gauging its impact.