TCS says ready to take on slowdown, rules out job cuts; IT major confident of strong growth this year

Amid concerns of a global economic slowdown, tech major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has ruled out chances of any layoffs at the company and exuded confidence about a strong growth this year especially when predictions paint a rosy picture for IT firms in 2019, said a media report. TCS said it would prepare for a strong growth this year too and could survive downturn concerns through operational discipline besides bringing in cost cutting measures, said a report in The Economic Times. “If suddenly there’s a recession, then there will be certain projects that get terminated or come to a closure; new projects will not start. So, there will be movement from onsite to offshore. That doesn’t mean that somebody loses his/her job, but the cost comes down,” Ajoyendra Mukherjee, chief human resources officer at TCS, was quoted as saying by The Economic Times. [caption id=“attachment_3050074” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] On 26 January, Tech Mahindra’s managing director and CEO CP Gurnani said that the Indian IT sector faced global headwinds like Brexit but developments around Globalisation 4.0 and 5G technology would bring growth for the industry this year, reported PTI. He also flagged currency risks but added that the domestic IT sector will benefit from investments in digital. “Uncertainty and lack of clarity around the US shutdown and Brexit are risks for the IT industry. However, the IT sector is poised for future growth, with technology being the key enabler for Globalization 4.0,” Gurani added. “Technology is at the core of everything we do, be it solving the skill problem or sustainability issues,” he said. In December 2018, TV Mohandas Pai, former chief financial officer of IT major Infosys, had said that India’s IT services sector and startups together were expected to hire up to five lakh people in 2019 as demand for freshers was on the upswing. Pai said that entry-level packages in the industry went up by as much as 20 percent in 2018, after stagnation in salaries for the past seven years. “Growth is coming back to the Indian IT services industry,” he said, talking about industry highlights in 2018 and prospects in the coming calendar year. Pai said 2018 saw “H1B visa situation getting tougher,” Indian companies focusing more on Japan and Southeast Asia, massive expansion of captives and buy-backs by big companies. Hyderabad has become a hot destination, with many new age companies coming to the Telangana capital, thanks to good infrastructure, and “very good marketing” by KTR (KT Rama Rao, who served as IT minister in the previous TRS government), according to him.

— With PTI inputs

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