Infosys BPM to not lay off employees for now\, optimise bench strength

Infosys BPM to not lay off employees for now, optimise bench strength

Infosys BPM CEO Anantharaman Radhakrishnan said that though the company is witnessing a contraction in the volume of deals, it is planning to start new services shortly

Rukmini Rao        Last Updated: June 5, 2020  | 10:30 IST
No lay offs at Infosys BPM now, says CEO Radhakrishnan

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • No layoffs for now at Infosys BPM, said CEO Radhakrishnan
  • Emphasis on upskilling of employees on bench to improve utilisation
  • Intensify automation to further reduce costs

In a recently-held virtual townhall, CEO and MD of Infosys BPM Anantharaman Radhakrishnan told the employees that the company is now aiming at optimising bench strength and that there would be no layoffs for the time being. Sources told Business Today that the company would now look at the 'central pool of talent' closely and identify the set of skills that employees would require. Infosys BPM employees would be further trained on these skills to make them project ready. Additionally, the CEO said that though the company is witnessing a contraction in the volume of deals, it is planning to start new services shortly. However, he did not elaborate on the same.

Infosys Ltd has already indicated that cost optimisation would be a focus and that the company is already taking steps to address near term margin pressures arising out of lower utilisation due to supply and demand mismatches. Sources said the BPM CEO has also indicated that the company would be looking at cost reduction with further automation. In the Q4 earnings call, Infosys COO Pravin Rao said, "Our BPM services had a standout year and crossed $1 billion  revenues at industry leading margins. Additionally, revenue per employee improved, thanks to automation."

According to the latest annual report of Infosys, subsidiary Infosys BPM's turnover for the year (including inter-company transactions) stood at Rs 4,595 crore and made a profit after tax of Rs 648 crore. Infosys BPM has around 32 delivery centres in nearly 14 countries and had 38,064 employees as of March 2019.  According to last year's annual report of Infosys BPM, on a consolidated basis,  approximately 96.1 per cent of revenue was from export, while 3.9 per cent was domestic.