Wipro says locals over 50 per cent of US employee strength

Wipro says locals over 50 per cent of US employee strength

BENGALURU: India’s biggest IT companies never disclosed information about hirings and employment in the US. Until now.

Today, almost all are showcasing these figures, presumably in an effort to allay American concerns that these companies are not creating jobs locally but are relying on work visas to bring in people from India.

On Wednesday, Wipro said locals form over 50% of its workforce in the US now. In the last six months, it said it hired over 1,600 people in the US. In 2016-17, it hired 3,000 locals. It now has over 14,000 employees in the US.

In early May, Infosys said it would hire 10,000 American workers over the next two years and establish four technology and innovation hubs in the US. The first hub, which will open in Indiana in August, is expected to create 2,000 jobs by 2021 for American workers.

Five days ago, TCS, India’s largest IT services company, said it hired 12,500 people between 2012 and 2016 in the US and was ranked by consultancy firm The Cambridge Group among the top two job creators in the American IT services industry.

TCS expects hiring of IT professionals in the US in 2017 to remain on par or exceed prior years’ levels. It said it has approximately 800-900 open positions – quarter to quarter – in Texas, California and Ohio, to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York for roles including devops and agile software development engineers, digital user experience (UX) designers, cloud architects, and autonomous drone operators.

Wipro said during the past decade it invested over $2 billion in the US. Wipro has over 40 facilities across 23 US states located in close proximity to clients.

It has over 1,000 employees each in the states of Florida, California, Georgia and Texas where it has established local delivery centres. CEO Abidali Neemuchwala said the company would continue to build a strong local talent pool with diverse skill sets.