TCS hires 174 graduates in US

Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT outsourcing company, said it hired 174 college graduates in the United States, at a time when that government is working on rules that could make it tougher for India IT providers to use H-1B visas.

Seventy-four of the new hires have already joined the company, while the remaining will join over the next few months, TCS said. The company has hired 500 US graduates over the last four years. The company employs 277,586 people, mostly in India.

"TCS is committed to identifying, developing and providing growth opportunities for local talent throughout the United States. We view new college hires as an opportunity to grow our highly skilled workforce and help support economic growth across the country," Surya Kant, president of North America, UK & Europe operations, said in a statement.

The US Senate has passed rules banning workers on H-1B visas from being deployed on client sites. Should that rule make it into the final law, currently being debated in the US House of Representatives, it would fundamentally change the IT servicers' business model.

The rules also raise the fees that are charged for new visas, particularly for companies that are considered visa-dependent. All of the big Indian IT companies fall in that bracket. The United States accounts for more than half of TCS's revenue, which came in at $3.16 billion at the end of the first-quarter.

IT companies have been increasingly hiring US citizens and applying for green cards to help offset any impact of the restrictive rules making it into the final law.

TCS has also been running community programs geared at boosting student talent and participation in science, technology, engineering and maths - together termed STEM disciplines -- in the United States. The moves boost employable talent and also help the company move beyond the 'outsourcer' tag.

The IT industry's moves in the United States are in stark contrast with the situation in India. IT industry body Nasscom has said that hiring by IT companies could fall 17% this year.