Infosys Technologies said on Thursday it hopes to recruit 15,000 people in the days ahead and had already begun the process by visiting campuses, even as it looks for acquisitions in Europe and some non-English speaking countries.
"We are looking for acquisitions," Infosys chief executive officer and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters in Mumbai on the sidelines of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum on Thursday.
The company is looking at acquisitions across Europe, and non-English-speaking countries and even in the US, Gopalakrishnan said, adding, "We are open to acquisitions everywhere...and across verticals."
The company has plans to recruit from campuses for the next year, he said.
"We are already recruiting in the campuses. In the campuses, we hope to recruit 15,000 people."
"We already gave a raise (in salary) in October, about eight per cent on an average in India. And what we will do in April, we will wait and see because the next cycle for increment is in April," Gopalakrishnan said.
On pricing, he said at the moment there was no upside pricing and it would continue to be flat. "There is no upside pricing now.
It will continue to be flat. On clients shifting out of output-based pricing, he said, "that has been happening over the last several years.
"We are probably seeing an acceleration to try out new business models, new engagement models and I think this is a good sign because it shows that the model had become the mainstream and you will find interesting business opportunities to engage with clients in different business models."
"Discretionary spend is happening now. But we will have to wait and see how fast it will rise, how much it will be, etc...but definitely, we are seeing signs of discretionary spends, we are seeing opportunities in transmission areas and like that," he added.
On a query on the Chinese market, the official said, "We will have to do a lot more to take advantage of the Chinese market. We have to be there for the long-term and that is what we are doing right now. We are investing today and planning to leverage that for the long-term."
Stating that discretionary spends were happening, the Infosys official said that it, however, remained to be seen how fast it would rise and what would be the quantum.
"Discretionary spend is happening now. But we will have to wait and see how fast it will rise, how much it will be, etc. . .but definitely, we are seeing signs of discretionary spends, we are seeing opportunities in transmission areas and like that," he said.
Gopalakrishnan also said that the company had filed 200 applications for patent and they were at different levels of processing.
"We have 200-plus applications pending at different stages of approval and we will continue to add more to that," he said.
Financial services led the recovery and these companies were looking at emerging markets.
"For emerging markets they have to create new products and services so that means discretionary expenses," he said.
To a question on the Chinese market, the Infosys official said that "we will have to do a lot more to take advantage of the Chinese market. We have to be there for the long-term and that is what we are doing right now. We are investing today and planning to leverage that for the long-term."
