TCS to focus on offshoring, to move many staff back to India

As part of the cost-cutting measures, India’s largest outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today said that it would relocate staff abroad into India.

“The company follows an onsite-offshore model. We will focus to do more work in India because it helps in saving cost and efficiency,” TCS Chief Operating Officer N Chandrasekaran said.

However, the company would continue to do work onshore and relocation did not mean that it was winding up its operations abroad. The company, which tried out its relocation in January-March this year, gained significantly in the last quarter of 2008-09.

In Q4, the company brought back its US staff to India, resulting in a cost saving of Rs 121 crore. The company did not give any figures on how many staff were brought back. The relocation of staff could be in thousands, he said.

At the same time, the company would be hiring more people, numbering 24,855 in India. It would hire 250 freshers in the US and a few in China, Chandrasekaran said.

But there would be no lateral hiring and there is a freeze on increments to its staff. He made it clear that TCS would not layoff people as a result of relocation. “There would be no lay-offs,” he said.

Bringing back the staff to India would not be restricted only to the US market, but across geographies. “We have thousands of staff working in the US, the UK, Europe and other geographies,” he said. The company had decided not to hire Satyam staff after the scam broke out, but now is open to it.

“When we hire laterals, whoever applies, we will look at them,” Chandrasekaran said. Twice every year, the company sacks non-performers. This year, too, non-performers would go, he said. “Non-performers will go and there is no plan to move non-performing staff to other subsidiaries,” he said.