Accenture to up global headcount to 1.65 lakh

Chennai, Feb 9: Accenture, a leading global management consulting technology services and outsourcing company, will increase its global headcount to 1.65 lakh and in India, from 27,000 to 35,000 by the end of its current fiscal ending August this year.

Accenture COO Steve Rohleder told reporters here today its headcount in the Global Delivery Network would go up from 52,000 to 65,000, taking its overall strength to 1.65 lakh.

About its plans for India. he said ''at present we have 27,000 people on our rolls and we will be hiring another 8,000 to 9,000 to take it to 35,000, which will be about 52 per cent increase when compared to last year.

''We will continue to focus on expanding our Indian operations.

India is a crown jewel in Accenture's global delivery network. We will continue to see Accenture's growth in all aspects in India,'' he added.
He also announced the expansion of its Chennai operations with the addition of 3,000 seats to its existing facility in Sozhlinganallur. Accenture employs more than 3,000 people in the city who provide technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to global clients.

''In the past 12 months, the company has increased its headcount in Chennai from 1,100 people to more than 3,000. It will be further increased with the addition of 3000 seats,'' he added.

"Chennai is an integral part of our Global Delivery Network. In addition to the rapid growth, the company is impressed by the quality of people here. This expansion is a result of the strong demand for services from our Chennai delivery centre,'' he added.

The company's global spend on training its staff was about four per cent of its total earning of 700 million US Dollar. ''We will continue to apportion them for India operations also'', he said and added Accenture would look at emerging companies for acquisition to complement its services.

Industrialisation of system integration with focus on repeatble solutions by harnessing technology and expanding the business consulting services were among the important initiatives of the company in India.

Accenture, which has delivery centres in six locations, was also constantly evaluating the options of setting up more centres in other Indian cities. 'It's an ongoing process,'' Mr Steve said, without elaborating further.

UNI