US-listed IT company Cognizant has stepped its campus hiring and is considering recruiting more technical graduates in India. The Nasdaq-listed company aims to hire over 20,000 students from college campuses this year.

"With more and more university students becoming digitally ready, we have decided on a 30% increase in our hiring of engineering and science graduates for 2020," Brian Humphries, chief executive officer (CEO), Cognizant told the Livemint.

The IT services company has also jacked-up annual campus salary packages for engineering graduates by 18% to Rs 4,00,000.

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"The acceptance rate for offers we have made in about 100 premier engineering campuses is more than 80%, reflecting increased confidence in Cognizant. This is much higher than in recent years," Humphries added.

Cognizant's plans to expand its India-based manpower come even as it announced to oust 10,000-12,000 employees in the September quarter in an effort to cut costs.

Last year, the New Jersey-based firm became the second IT company after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) to hire over 2,00,000 employees in India.

Also Read: Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries refutes reports of job cuts, promises more hiring in India

Humphries further said that Cognizant aims to leverage the local talent within India as the domestic companies "are increasingly focusing on the imperative to 'think fast' and 'think forward' to strengthen their relevance for the future."

Last week, Cognizant had expanded its footprints in Karnataka with a new, 1,00,000 sq feet facility in Mangalore with a capacity to accommodate over 1100 employees.