Date:21/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/04/21/stories/2007042104430400.htm

Wipro after 10 deals of $50 m each

Our Bureau

`There is still room for growth in Continental Europe as large areas remain untapped'

Bangalore April 20 Stating that its deal pipeline was fairly strong, Wipro Technologies said on Friday that it was currently pursing 10 deals of over $50 million each. "The deals are spread across the US and Europe," said Mr P.R. Chandrasekar, CEO of Americas and Europe. "It takes about one-to-three quarters to close deals of this size," he said.

"There is still room for growth in Continental Europe as large areas remain untapped," Mr Chandrasekar said, adding that the company saw no slowdown in the US.

The Head of HR at Wipro, Mr Prateek Kumar, said the company would more than double the intake of science graduates at 3,500 for the programme at Wipro Academy of Software Excellence (WASE) this year. The annual intake stood at around 3,000 graduates.

Increasing headcount

Futher, Mr Kumar said, for FY08 the company would hire more employees compared to 14,076 that it added to its rolls in FY07. However, Mr Kumar declined to give specific details.

The Wipro board declared a final cash dividend of Rs 1 per share, which coupled with the interim dividend of Rs 5 per share, would take the total dividend to 300 per cent at Rs 6 per share.

Meanwhile, Wipro BPO has seen an annualised attrition of 73 per cent for 2006-07."The attrition rate included those who were given the offer letter for a job but did not join the organisation," the Wipro BPO's Chief Executive, Mr T.K. Kurien, said. The annualised figures were calculated on the basis of 16.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2006-07. During the quarter, voluntary attrition rate was 15.7 per cent.

High attrition rate

Commenting on the high figure of 73 per cent when compared to the industry average, Mr Kurien said it was because the measurement of attrition varied from company to company. Wipro BPO considered attrition right after the offer letter was handed over to the individual quitting the job, he said

Outlining the reasons for attrition, he said one-third of those who dropped out were because of offers by competitors while another one-third quit to pursue higher studies. "One-third of those who left were those who had quit the industry as a whole. Women form a large part of this segment," Mr Kurien said.