Amid heightened concerns over protectionism in the Western markets, TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran on Friday said “that nothing has changed” for the country’s largest software exporter on visas and the company continues to operate “successfully” across markets, including its largest market the US
“On the ground, nothing has changed. We continue to operate successfully; recruit people in every market,” Chandrasekaran, who got elevated as the Tata Sons chairman earlier this year, told TCS shareholders at the company’s AGM
He said, that TCS adheres to local laws in every country that it operates in and is among the “top recruiter” in each of those markets, including the US which is the largest for the it as well as the domestic industry netting almost 65 % of their income.
Significantly, the group patriarch Ratan Tata was conspicuously absent at the AGM.
TCS had drastically reduced the number of visa applications to the US to a third of the normal, much before Donald Trump came to occupy the White House. It had also said it would be hiring 10,000 in the US,
Chief executive Rajesh Gopinathan said that TCS had hired 79,000 globally in the last fiscal year, including 11,500 in foreign markets.
Mr.Chandrasekaran, who was the CEO of TCS before being elevated as Tata Sons chairman in February, said that the global business environment is increasingly adopting digital and the world is transforming fast.
With business leaders speaking of data as the new oil, the head of the salt-to-software conglomerate said data excellence will be the most important theme in the future and hold true for all the sectors beyond IT.
He said TCS has trained over two lakh employees on the emerging digital technologies.
Seeking to address the concerns on the future, Chandrasekaran said TCS has seen many disruptive changes over its journey and has continued to stay relevant by being ahead of the curve. He said TCS’ digital revenues grew 28 per cent to $ 3 billion in FY17.
“The future of technology is very bright and we have immense opportunities. We are working strong and hard to grow and scale new heights,” he said.
Gopinathan said operational agility, cloud and automation will be his focus area in FY18.
