Ahmedabad: Software giant Infosys on Wednesday said it was looking to expand its footprint in India with a focus on tier-II cities.
"We are looking for land in various parts of the country and looking to expand our capacity with a focus on tier-II cities," Infosys CEO and Co-founder S D Shibulal told reporters here on the sidelines of an award function.
"This year we added nearly 45,000 to 47,000 people. For the next year we have already given campus offers to 23,000 candidates," he said. "The net additions by us this year are around 25,000," Shibulal said, referring to attrition.
The company recently sealed a deal with Madhya Pradesh government for setting up a development centre in Indore. It is awaiting response from West Bengal government for setting up a centre in Kolkata. The company is present in 10 cities currently.
"We are awaiting response from the Kolkata (West Bengal) government. We are positive on the offer made to them," an Infosys executive said, replying to a media query.
The company, which has been planning a centre in Gujarat too, said at present only the issues related to availability of land at fair price are being considered. "We are focused on tier-II cities more, since some of the tier-I cities are facing challenges of infrastructure," he said.
On being asked if he foresees a shift from product-based to service-based operations, Shibulal said "Infosys has evolved in the last 30 years manifold. If you look at our revenues in 1999, 90 per cent was coming from application development and maintenance; today it is just about 36 per cent.
"We have evolved to next generation consulting and technology organisation. Today we offer a wide range of services, 32 per cent of our revenue comes from consulting and system integration work, 6.5 per cent comes from product and platforms," Shibulal said.
"In percentage terms our aspiration is more to grow in the products and platform space, both organically and inorganically, and maintain balance in all three portfolios."
Commenting on the global scenario vis-a-vis IT sector in India, Shibulal said that globally the environment is pretty uncertain, which reflects in company's guidance. Currently, one needs to be cautious.
Stating his expectations from the coming budget, Shibulal said the need of hour is to grow at 9 per cent, and the expectations from budget are that it will support growth and remove regional imbalances. "We have to grow at 9 per cent at least, and I think that is the fundamental need for the country. The challenge is how you create nine plus growth.