Wipro will be changing its hiring policies: CEO

Even as Wipro, India’s third-largest information technology (IT) services company, has given a muted forecast for the first quarter of 2014-15, Chief Executive T K Kurien believes 2014-15 will be better than the past couple of years.

In an interview with Itika Sharma Punit and Bibhu Ranjan Mishra, he talks on the outlook for the next year, the slow growth in the retail vertical and initiatives to introduce automation. Excerpts:

You have sprung a surprise by giving a muted forecast for the first quarter of 2014-15 and, at the same time, sharing a bullish outlook.

We have always believed we must be consistent in our forecasts. When we give an estimate, we take into account all the deals closed and the potential ramp-downs.

The minute you start putting judgment into the forecast, you could swing to one side. The biggest thing about Wipro is we have never missed our forecast; something we will be bent on preserving.

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As was the case with Infosys, you sounded cautious about the retail business. Are you also seeing ramp-downs and cancellations of deals in this segment?

Our retail business has declined substantially. It is not client-specific; we are seeing this across customers in the US.

The reason is we are on the ‘change’ side of the business, not on the ‘run’ side. So, we do new projects and new development, while clients have cut business.

But in the retail sector, you can’t stay away from new development for long. The demand will return.

Your net hiring rose marginally in 2013-14. Will this be a trend?

Automation is picking up and that will have some impact on hiring (in quality, if not quantity).

The best example is to look at the textile sector. In the UK, the garment sector employed seven million people at one point. When sewing machines and washing machines were introduced, the employment dropped dramatically and the social tension was massive.

We are very worried that we have to create a sustainable business in which we don’t have to lay off employees because you cannot do that. So, we believe the less we hire, the better off we are.

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