Business recovery may take 2-4 years: Infosys

Chennai, Feb. 16 The Infosys Technologies Ltd Managing Director and CEO, Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, feels that business recovery could take between two and four years, in the worst case scenario .

This is part of a business cycle and only a passing phase, he said. “I doubt something dramatic could happen immediately. We are not sure when the recovery will start, but some say it will happen in 2010-11. I feel the window will be two to four years for the recovery,” he said, citing that period as the worst-case scenario. He added that viewing the scene optimistically, recovery could start by end of fiscal 2010.

According to him, the downturn provides a huge opportunity where India can be at the centre of the change. There is a huge market and abundant resources to meet the challenge, he said, addressing students of the Great Lakes Institute of Management in the city.

One of the biggest opportunities for software companies is to work on technologies, products and services around the climate change. India can take a lead on this and leapfrog – as was witnessed in the telecom sector, he said.

The downturn is also opening up new markets. Around two billion new consumers, especially in India and China, were added in the last 30 years. Two billion more consumers are to be added in the next few years.

“We need to innovate new products and services that are affordable, relevant and for the right target people,” he said.

Perfect case study


Mr Gopalakrishnan told the management students that the downturn is a perfect case study on what the economy goes through during a downturn. “Participate in the recovery. The current situation is similar to the 1930 depression and lot more things are interesting,” he said.

“There is no plan to lay off employees at Infosys. There is only performance-based involuntary attrition happening,” he said.

Later, in a chat with Business Line, he said that the gap between what clients want and what the country’s educational system supplies is widening.

“So we need to invest further in training and make our evaluation processes more stringent. That is why involuntary attrition has been creeping up. Though, it isn’t high at around 1.5 per cent, the bulk of that being in the initial training period for freshers.”
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/