Infosys set to hire 10,000 more

Nasdaq-listed software major Infosys Technologies said, on Wednesday, that it will recruit 8000-10,000 people this fiscal year and invest $21 million for expansion.

"This quarter, we have announced an additional investment of $21 million -- $5 million in banking and $16 million in business units", Nandan Nilekani, CEO and managing director, Infosys said, adding that backlash on outsourcing has lost its steam.

"The outsourcing outcry has diminished. It may come back. But right now it is low," he said.

On the company's expansion plans, Nilekani said: "We are setting up a campus in Mysore with capacity for 400 people. We have announced a 20-acre campus in Chandigarh, apart from Chennai and Pune, as well as a scheduled expansion in Hyderabad."

Last quarter, the company had announced that it would invest $20 million in consulting, and $5 million each in the banking business and China subsidiary.

Apart from this, Infosys has its regular capital expenditure, which keeps varying as per the expansion plan, he said.

As per its revised guidance, the company is eyeing 40 per cent growth.

Nilekani said Infosys' business consulting, which accounts for 3.7 per cent of the total revenue, got one client in the last quarter.

Infosys reported a 39.23 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 388.34 crore (Rs 3.88 billion) during the first quarter ending June 2004.

The IT bellwether had reported a net profit of Rs 278.92 crore (Rs 2.79 billion) during the first quarter last year.

It reported a revenue of Rs 1,517.38 crore (Rs 15.17 billion) in the first quarter, up by 38.61 per cent over Rs 1094.70 crore (Rs 10.91 billion) in the same period last year, beating its earlier guidance of 25 per cent growth.

The company forecast 39 to 40 per cent growth for the fiscal 2004-05 between Rs 6,731 crore (Rs 67.31 billion) and Rs 6,772 crore (Rs 67.71 billion), improving upon its earlier guidance of 24 per cent growth between Rs 5,994 crore (Rs 59.94 billion) and Rs 6,041 crore (Rs 60.41 billion). Earnings per share for the year is projected at Rs 62.70.