Software firm Cognizant Technology Solutions will be recruiting about 18,000 IT professionals before the year end in addition to the present 38,000 workforce, a top company official said on Saturday.

The problem is not the quantity of human resources available but quality personnel across the country, Cognizant president and managing director R Chandrasekaran told reporters.

Chandrasekaran was speaking at a workshop jointly organised by Board of Apprenticeship Training, southern region, and BHEL.

The company was taking multi-pronged approach to redress the constraint by running a training academy, organising job fairs and selecting people from institutions like Board of Apprenticeship Training, HRD ministry, he said.

Answering a query, Chandrasekaran said, Cognizant was evincing interest in tier II cities like Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Kochi.

Although the company was hosting its offices on foreign soil, almost fifty percent of the firm's staff were from southern India.

The foreign locations included two units in the United States, one in China, one in Toronto, Canada and another at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Besides, the Indian company is also eyeing units in Eastern Europe.