Tata Consultancy Hires 70

Demand for Tata Consultancy ServicesLtd.'s outsourcing services is so robust the information-research company hired 70,000 workers last fiscal year andplans to add a furthermore 60,000 this year.

"As long as there's growth, you don't want to leavebusiness on the table," said Ajoyendra Mukherjee, TataConsultancy's vice president for human resources. "What we'retrying to do is make sure the supply chain is large enough tomeet our growth requirements hereafter."

Keeping the pipeline of talent filled is becoming moreimportant as Microsoft Corp. and International Business MachinesCorp. open facilities in India, and the local banking, financeand manufacturing industries hire their own computer engineers.Attrition at Tata Consultancy, Infosys and Wipro accelerated toits highest annual levels in the year ending March 31 as a post-recession surge gave workers chances to change jobs for raisesof as much as 50 percent.

Bangalore-based Wipro as well set up a four-year academy toteach students from other disciplines, including business andthe arts, how to be software engineers, said Saurabh Govil,senior vice president for human resources.

The IT industry booms

Even as the IT industry booms, companies say they recognizethe potential for hiring binges to hamper quality andflexibility. Firms are talking more about finding revenuestreams that don't depend on headcount, just as intellectualproperty and cloud-computing platforms.