Tata Consultancy Services on hiring binge

Reports this week out of India reveal that Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest outsourcer and a major provider of tech consulting services worldwide, hired more than 60,000 new employees this fiscal year and plans to add at least 50,000 to that total by 2012.

The Financial Times says that the huge expansion is part of an effort to bring the TCS brand to emerging markets. Last year, the company announced that it planned to hire between 40,000 and 200,000 new employees to service that effort; clearly, it appears that the actual hiring figures will fall on the higher end of that scale. The company has already tendered offers to 37,000 soon-to-be graduates this year.

TCS follows more established consulting groups like Deloitte and KPMG in announcing triple-figure hiring sprees in the next few years; both of those companies have pledged to hire as many as 250,000 new employees by 2015. But Tata's reasons to hire big are very different from its prestigious competitors. In countries like the United States, protectionist measures have made it more difficult for American companies to outsource entire departments to firms like Tata. Worker visa costs have also increased significantly in the US, and the Obama administration has been vocal in encouraging American companies to keep jobs stateside to help in the economic recovery effort. To make up for this setback, which TCS chief executive N. Chandrasekaran referred to as a "headwind", the company is setting its sights on fast-growing emerging markets for new customers and demand for its services.

How that will work for an outsourcing company, I do not know. Though it looks like Tata has little choice in the matter. Whatever. They're hiring, so if you want to move to Thailand and work for an Indian consultancy, it's time to dust off your application.

For more information:
Financial Times: Tata Consulting exceeds job growth targets