Accenture to hire 8000 employees in India by 2010

Global consulting major Accenture is on a hiring spree in India. It says it will take on staff of about 8,000 by next year.

Global technology services and consulting major Accenture is bullish on India. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Chairman & CEO, William Green said India is a crucial growth driver for the company. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in New Delhi, Green spoke about Accenture's hiring plans in India and the US recovery.

Excerpts from the exclusive interview:
Green: We have 180,000 employees around the world and 42,000 of those are here in India. We are on a hiring path to have 50,000 employees by the end of 2010 and we will keep going from there. Importantly, talent is a global commodity and people source talent where they can get it. We have had very good success here with getting terrific talent that we can train and do what we do; our clients are excited about it. And we will continue to leverage our presence here and our reputation in the market to bring on board more people.

Q: Will inorganic growth be a strategy that you could look at as far as India is concerned because there was a lot of buzz and talk that you were one of the contenders for Satyam which is now Mahindra Satyam? Would inorganic growth be a strategy for you?

A: It really isn’t here in India. And I think we have proven that we can grow a business. I remember when we had 400 people and in here and now we have 42,000 and we did all that one person at a time. One of the core competencies of our company is the ability to recruit and train and deploy talent. That is the thing we do.
I think we have been able to show that we can do that here. Once we have an engine in place that does that, I think we are in a very good shape going forward wherever we take the business in terms of products and services in the future.

Q: What about the US in specific, we are seeing visible signs of some sort of a recovery at this point and there is a question mark on whether this is sustainable or not, what is your thought on that?

A: The media and the stock markets are out ahead of business performance. There is no question about that. But if you really look at it there are a lot of encouraging signs. I think the US business has seen the bottom, we are seeing signs of stability, we are seeing some signs of forward momentum in certain industries, and we are going to see a slow but gradual recovery. When we cross into calendar 2010, I think we will see a little more momentum in the US economy across the board and very positive GDP growth that isn’t necessarily stimulated by the government.

Q: So you are not in the camp that expects another stimulus package?

A: I don’t think we should have another stimulus package. Right now in the US, only 40% of the stimulus money has actually made it out and some of that you are hard pressed to find. And I think we have got to just digest what we have and we’ve just got to have all our businesses focused on the fundamentals. As the US comes out of the crisis, many of these companies are going to be stronger and more focused and more determined than they have ever been before. And that is what is necessary to compete on the global stage.