Friday, July 22 2005 17:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: While Wipro added more than 2,000 employees in IT services in the first quarter, an equal number in its Business Process Outsourcing Business left the organisation in the same period, reflecting the high attrition rate in the BPO industry.

The Bangalore-headquartered company's Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapathy said Wipro is looking to improve non-voice component of the BPO business (like transaction processing activity). At present, voice (call centres) contribute around 85 per cent to Wipro's BPO revenues.

Wipro expects its BPO revenue growth to remain muted at least in the next two quarters.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said the company is seeking to turn its BPO business into a healthy and robust one at the end of the next two quarters, comparable to the best in the industry.

In response to a question, he said while Wipro has no regret in acquiring the then Spectramind more than three years ago, the company does have regrets that it has not re-engineered its BPO business early enough, did not focus on productivity of the people and business and focused too much on concentration of customers.

On aggressive hiring by MNCs in the software sector in India, Premji expressed the view that initial euphoria by Indian techies to join them is on the wane.

"The initial glow ....initial dream that people have that world opens up for them when they join MNCs is significantly moderated", he commented.

Indian engineers are beginning to see that the global delivery model of home-grown companies are "front-end" for them and that of MNCs "back-end". MNCs have also realised that they can't add value to their customers by paying 50 per cent more salary.

So, MNC salaries have moderated and fallen in line with comparable Indian firms, he said.

Meanwhile, Premji expects wage inflation in campus recruitment to be seven to eight per cent, and 12-14 per cent in case of laterals in the next two years.