TCS wants to increase headcount in Asia Pacific by 15% as wage pressures ease

Tech giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is looking to grow its headcount by 15 percent across the Asia Pacific region within the next year, news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

The company sees wage pressures easing as the markets are opening up post the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s able to move talent more freely, TCS’ Asia Pacific President Girish Ramachandran told Bloomberg Television.

Reflecting on global wage inflation, he said, “We used to have a significant (wages) problem a few quarters back when most of the markets were closed, and there was no talent movement across markets during the pandemic. So, we couldn't bring in talent from around the world.”

However, in the last few months, except for a few markets, talent can be moved freely, so the wages problem is subsiding and should even out over the next two quarters, he said.

Ramachandran said TCS hired 100,000 consultants last year and will continue to do so to meet IT demand, which remains strong as companies seek to optimise digital infrastructure.

“As far as beyond the pandemic is concerned, technology has become a mainstay for those companies that want to do cost optimisation or growth and transformation,” he said in the interview.

He added that there is a significant push towards digitisation, moving things to the cloud, using data, cyber security, and customer optimisation.

When asked about TCS’s aim to achieve $50 billion in sales before 2030, the APAC President said, "It's too early to say that. It's an aspirational forecast. We are only slightly over 3 percent of the world's IT outsourcing market. So, there's significant headroom for us to grow."

Asia Pacific is more than 10 percent of TCS’ market, which is beyond India, he said, and if India is included, it is almost 15 percent. There is significant demand coming from Australia, New Zealand, to even China and all ASEAN countries and so he remains very optimistic and bullish about the chances of accomplishing the target, he added.

Ramachandran noted that the Indian IT industry has always built on fresh talent, making them available as per market requirements, so TCS is focusing on hiring from colleges. “In terms of wage inflation, we give anywhere between 3-8 percent across all markets,” he added.