'Hiring 10K in US in 2 yrs no big deal, Infy hires 10K in India in 2 quarters'

Asserting that hiring in the US will not impact its recruitment plans in India, the Bengaluru-based company said it has rolled out campus offers to 19,000 people here.

"There is absolutely no slowdown in hiring in India. We have talked about 10,000 hiring in the US in two years, we do 10,000 hiring in India in less than two quarters," Sikka told reporters here.

Infosys COO UB Pravin Rao said more than 1,000 people have joined Infosys during the April-June 2017 quarter.

"We have made offers to 19,000 people (trainees) to join this year, we expect 12,000-13,000 to join ... Hiring in the US is not really impacting our hiring in India," Rao said.

Infosys had 1,98,553 employees at the end of June quarter. This is, however, lower by 1,811 people compared to the March quarter.

Infosys CFO MD Ranganath said the company has announced "a very healthy variable pay" across levels that impacted its margins by approximately 1 per cent.

The company will roll out wage hikes effective this month but has not disclosed the quantum.

Ranganath said though the headcount has grown by just 0.8 per cent, the company's revenue has grown 6.3 per cent year- on-year. IT firms are increasingly turning to automation in a bid to increase their revenues without necessarily recruiting more people.

Interestingly, Infosys -- at its 36th annual general meeting last month -- had said more than 11,000 jobs have been released due to automation.

This comes at a time when there are concerns of large- scale layoffs across companies like Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Infosys. The $150-billion sector is one of the country's biggest employers.

However, the companies have maintained that there are no mass layoffs and that the employees who have been asked to leave are a part of the annual weeding out of non- performers.

Infosys, India's second-biggest software services exporter, on Friday reported better-than- expected 1.3 per cent rise in its June quarter net profit on winning key clients in North America and Europe and raised its annual US dollar revenue outlook.

Net profit in April-June 2017-18 at INR 3,483 crore, or INR 15.24 per share, was 1.3 per cent higher than INR 3,436 crore (INR 15.03 a share) in the same period a year ago.

Infosys raised its US dollar revenue growth guidance for the fiscal to 7.1-9.1 per cent, from the previously projected 6.1-8.1 per cent. However, Infosys maintained its constant currency revenue guidance at 6.5-8.5 per cent.

Revenue grew 1.7 per cent to INR 17,078 crore in the first quarter of 2017-18 as against INR 16,782 crore in the year-ago period.

Infosys, which has been battered by a series of events including a spat between its board and high-profile founders led by former chairman N R Narayana Murthy over corporate governance, added eight clients in the $100 million-plus category during the first quarter.

"Our persistent focus on execution in Q1 is reflected in broad-based performance on multiple fronts - revenue growth, resilient margins despite multiple headwinds, healthy cash generation and overall business results," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said.

Sikka, who arrived for the media briefing at the company's headquarters in an autonomous (driverless) vehicle built by Infosys engineers, said he was encouraged by the uptick in revenue per employee for six quarters in a row.

He was also enthused by the strong momentum in new high growth services and software that the company has seen. On a sequential basis, Infosys' net profit declined 3.3 per cent while revenues were down 0.2 per cent in rupee terms.