JOIN USIndia’s second largest IT exporter Infosys is all set to open a new line of business by imparting training to employees of other companies at its offshore development centres across the country, especially at its iconic Mysore campus in order to monetise training facilities, two people familiar with the development said.
Now called Narayana Murthy Centre of Excellence, the Mysore campus is poised to be hived off into a separate business unit, one source said on condition of anonymity.
“The Global Education Center (GEC II) inaugurated in 2009 lies vacant in the absence of new employees and the company has to pay electricity bill worth Rs 45 lakh every month. Infosys management thus wants to monetise the centre by allowing employees of other firms be trained,” the source said. In January 2013, Infosys shuffled top-level roles announcing that its Education & Research Head Srikantan Moorthy, who was heading the Mysore training centre, would be appointed as the new Global Head of Human Resources, replacing erstwhile Head Nandita Gurjar who now is in charge of Education & Research.
In a statement sent to Deccan Herald, Gurjar said the company has introduced a new service line called Enterprise Capability & Knowledge Management (ECKM) at its training centres.
“Right now we do not have any more details to offer on this service model. And there is no plan to slash our future IT training spend,” Gurjar added.
Expected by June 2013
The company, sources added, is going to offer training to employees of its clients as well as other interested companies and charge on per-package basis and is expected to begin by June this year.
According to sources, there is a compulsion on Infosys to increase profit margins and the company has found that these IT training centres could be revenue generators at a time when not many employees are likely to be hired.
“The company feels the need to utilise its capabilities in offshore development centres,” the source explained.
Infosys in Mysore trains candidates recruited every year alongside existing staff to make them industry-ready.
According to an IT consultant, Infosys’ move comes after the realisation of the difficult market conditions.
“It is high time that IT companies evolve such tactics to tide over hard times,” he added.
“We spend around $180 million every year on training. There is no change in our plans for our training operations, which continues to be one of our greatest strengths and distinguishers,” Gurjar said.
Infosys, which had long been the poster-child of Indian IT industry, has of late come under pressure from the stock market as well as analysts. The move to monetise existing training capacities might turn around its fortunes.