500 TCS employees 'resign' after appraisal

BANGALORE, INDIA: Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, India's largest software services exporter, said on Tuesday that about 500 of its staff had "resigned voluntarily" after their performance was rated poorly.

“Those who cannot meet the performance requirements of our company are asked to look for another job commensurate with their abilities,” a spokesman for Mumbai-headquartered Tata Consultancy told.

"This (financial) year so far about 500 people have resigned voluntarily."

The company's financial year runs from April to March.

"It's not an exceptional thing, it happens every year and it's part of our annual performance exercise. Last year also similar number of people left the company," the spokesman said.

In the December quarter, Tata Consultancy, part of the Tata Group that has interests in cars, commodities and services, added 4,037 net staff taking its total headcount to 108,229, up from 83,500 a year ago.

India's export-driven software services companies have been winning large outsourcing contracts from western clients, but recession fears in the United States, a strong rupee, soaring wages and a skills shortage are major worries.

At 10: 43 a.m. (IST), shares in Tata Consultancy was down 1.6 percent at 960 rupees in a Mumbai market that was up 0.3 percent.

Earlier last week, IBM had shown the door to 700 entry-level trainee programmers, after they reportedly failed to clear aptitude tests.