IT layoffs: Job cuts in the sector exaggerated, believes Infosys HR head Krishnamurthy Shankar

While the massive jobs cuts in the Indian IT sector have created quite some frenzy, some firms believe that it is not as bad as it is made to be. Numerous company heads have said before that employees not being laid off in such large numbers and a lot of times workers are let go based on their performance.

Reiterating this point, Krishnamurthy Shankar, group head of human resource development at Infosys explained that the IT jobs cuts are being exaggerated. He also said that as the industry grows at a rapid pace each year, employees will definitely need to keep up with the changing standards.

"With the industry seeing many changes and the use of new technologies, it is more imperative than ever to meet evolving standards of performance," Shankar told the Economic Times. He also revealed that attrition is at 13.8 percent, whereas employees asked to leave due to unsatisfactory performance and other reasons, is at 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Infosys has said that the job cuts are being blown out of proportion. The company's COO Pravin Rao in early June had said that reports of job losses are "overstated."

"I think all the news about job losses are overstated. Infosys itself last year recruited over 20,000 people and this year again, we are likely to repeat similar numbers," Press Trust of India had quoted Rao as saying.

"With respect to all the talks of layoffs, it's regular performance based things that we do every year. The number is really 300-400, which is consistent with what we have seen every year," he added.

Amid talks of massive layoffs, Infosys is reportedly planning to hire about 24,000 employees in India, about half of which will be freshers. The IT giant also plans to ramp up hiring in the US and is likely to get about 10,000 employees on board in the next two years.

"Infosys is committed to hiring 10,000 American technology workers over the next two years to help invent and deliver the digital futures for our clients in the United States," Vishal Sikka, chief executive officer, Infosys, had said in a statement. The Bengaluru-based firm also plans to set up four technology and innovation hubs in the US of which the first one will open in Indiana in August 2017.