HCL Tech plans to double headcount in nearshore locations in next 3-5 yrs: CEO

IT major, HCL Tech expects the headcount to double over the next 3-5 years in nearshore locations. The company’s CEO C Vijayakumar on Sunday asserted that the demand has not been impacted by Europe despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Currently, globally, the company employs about 10,000 people in all its nearshore locations.

Vijayakumar told PTI, “We expect that number to double over the next 3-5 years,” adding, “Whatever ongoing ramp-up plans in these locations, they are on track and these locations are also growing for us.”

HCL Tech operates in 20 nearshore locations that include Mexico, Toronto, Vancouver, Costa Rica, and Romania. The company has Eastern European centres are in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. Notably, it does not have any centres in Russia or Ukraine.

In the Eastern European presence, the CEO stated that all of them are continuing to operate at similar capacity levels. He explains that demand in Europe remains ‘”quite robust” and then the company has not seen the Russia-Ukraine conflict impacting demand.

HCL Tech plans to expand existing locations in nearshores. On the expansion of new centres for FY23, Vijayakumar said to the news agency, “It’s not completely new locations, some of our existing locations may expand, like Vietnam, Romania, Costa Rica, Mexico and a few centres within the US… these are the locations where we will expand.”

During Q4FY22, HCL Tech posted a robust growth of 226% yoy in consolidated net profit to ₹3,593 crore. Revenue from operations rose 15% yoy to ₹22,597 crore for the quarter.

In the March 2022 quarter, on a trailing 12 months basis, the attrition rate rose to 21.9%. HCL Tech has added nearly 40,000 freshers during the fiscal 2022 year, taking the total headcount to 208,877. Net employee additions during the quarter were also brisk at 11,100, up 5.6% sequentially.

For FY22, the company’s revenue jumped to ₹ ₹85,651 crore from ₹75,379 crore in FY21. Meanwhile, net income increased to ₹13,499 crore in FY22, as against ₹11,145 crore in the previous fiscal.

For FY23, the company has given margin guidance between 18-20%, while the revenue is expected to grow between 12% to 14% in constant currency.

It has announced to hire at least 45,000 freshers in the financial year FY23 for catering to its attrition and growing demand. In fiscal 2021-22, HCL Tech stated that localization in the US stands at 70.9%, while in Europe stands at 80.5%, and APAC and the rest of the world (excluding India) stand at 88.9%.

Source: GWFM News