MNCs To Dominate Tech Hiring Wave In India

The multinational companies will dominate tech hiring wave in India, during the next three calendars, giving their domestic counterparts a backseat.

MNCs alone are expected to hire 1,50,000 people in the country during calendar 2007 against around 60,000 recruitments they have cumulatively accounted for in the previous calendar. The MNC hiring will more than double year-on-year in the next three years till 2009. That means, domestic tech firms, that have been going great guns with large-volume hiring during calendar 2004, `05 and `06, will put hiring on a backburner, say industry observers.

Accenture, Bearing Point, CapGemini , EDS, IBM, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, are the leading MNCs that are going to drive the hiring storm in India till end 2009. Again, a whole host of MNCs like Cisco, Oracle, Dell, SAP, Deloitte, Perot Systems, Microsoft, VeriSign, British Telecom and Logica CMG and dozens of MNC outsourcing firms like Fidelity , Convergys, America Online, Barclays, Reuters, Ocwen Financials, Viteos and HSBC are expected to scale up their people front significantly in India.

A lot of high-value hiring is expected by over 50 different product development and design MNCs. In addition to all these, a large number of MNCs are waiting in the wings to enter India. “So together, starting now, a lot of action is expected among MNCs in the coming few years,” says BS Murthy, CEO, HumanCapital, a career consulting firm.

MNCs have excellent vertical domain competencies and great ability to win big and long-term deals, a constrast to desi big firms that are still willing to negotiate $2 million or $5 million deals or busy scouting for piecemeal deals. In the coming years, the principal hiring will be by large and established players, who are capable of bagging big deals, say industry observers.

Irrespective of the diminishing cost arbitrage factor, India is increasingly becoming attractive for MNCs firms. In fact, share holders have been insisting MNCs to have presence in ‘‘critical geography” like India as they see a lot of value in the country in terms of availability of people who can work in multiple skills, technologies, domains and platforms,” observes Anjan Dutta, CEO, CareerGraph, another recruitment firm in the city.

Also, all these years, campuses, by and large, have remained as an exclusive terrain for domestic firms. “This trend will reverse during this calendar as large number of MNCs will be hiring from campuses giving domestic players a dry run. Who can resist job offers with a 30% or more premium salaries?” asks Mamtha Jain, an HR consultant.

Does this mean Indian firms will stay away from hiring? “Tier-ones like TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, HCL and Cognizant will hire to support and continue their 30% to 50% year-on-year growth. But again, the MNC hiring numbers will double in absolute terms. Small and medium firms will take the brunt, without being able to attract or retain talent"

says Lakshmikanth, CMD, HeadHunters