Capgemini to hire 7,000 more in India in 2010

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Europe's leading information technology services group Capgemini, which hiked its 2010 margin target and second-half sales target as business spending on technology recovers, said that it would recruit 7,000 more people in India this year. The company, which is bullish on strong growth prospects in the country has already hired 10,000 people so far in 2010.

Capgemini India's employee strength was at 26,000 in June 2010.

“Today, India is central to Capgemini's Rightshore delivery model, with 26,000 people and 27 percent of global employee headcount. We will recruit 17,000 people in India in 2010 and will announce expansions of our facilities to accommodate this growth,” said Salil Parekh, executive chairman, Capgemini India, after the company's results were announced.

“We have set up Global Centres of Excellence across our offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune catering to global as well as domestic clients,” he added.

Parekh also said Capgemini India  added more than 40 clients in India over the last 18 months and the company is seeing significant momentum across industry verticals and the public sector.

“From a global delivery standpoint the leverage of India within the Group has seen significant growth. India is now evolving into an innovation hub,” he said.

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Capgemini, which competes against groups like Accenture and offers consulting and outsourcing services, had last week forecast second-half 2010 revenue growth of between 3 to 5 percent like-for-like, higher than previous forecasts of up to 4 percent.

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Capgemini also reported first-half results above analyst expectations, posting sales of 4.21 billion euros ($5.48 billion) and net profit of 101 million euros. Its operating margin was 5.8 percent.

The French firm's results add to a mixed picture for global technology heavyweights after software firm SAP's weak sales outlook and IBM's decline in new technology services orders contrasted with strong results from Oracle and Microsoft.