Infosys CEO Salil Parekh revealed that the IT major has hired 4,000 out of its planned 2021 target of 10,000 US locals.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley’s Twentieth Annual India Summit held in Mumbai, Parekh stated, “Out of our target for 10,000 local hires, we have achieved 4,000 local hires. We made 800 college hires in FY18, we are looking at getting that to 1,000 in the next year.”

He added that these steps were also finding appreciation with state governments in the US. 

"We think the environment is such that if we do the things in the right way, this is going to be a further expanding business. So, we don't see it as a constraint but the dynamic globally is different and the business model needs to evolve to adapt to it," he said. 

The Bengaluru-based firm had last year announced that it will set up four technology and innovation hubs and hire about 10,000 locals in the US over two years. In April this year, it had announced that it would open its US Education Centre in Indianapolis, which would train American workers and create an additional 1,000 jobs.

Parekh has made localization one of the company’s four main tasks in his three-year strategic plan in a bid to adapt to tightening immigration policies as well as meet a growing demand from clients for local professionals. He believes that stricter work visa norm in various markets like the US and Australia will not "constrain" its business growth as the IT firm is focusing on hiring locals and training workforce in these geographies. 

The other three areas where the IT major will focus on are investing in digital, increasing the use of artificial intelligence and automation and reskilling the company’s talent.

“With the transformation we are driving, we need a phase of calming down and stabilizing. If we can do that doing this year, we will be a far stronger company going ahead,” Parekh said.

As per his strategy, the company needs to stabilize in FY19, build momentum in FY20 and accelerate in FY21. It will also entail the company to sacrifice some of its margin to make investments that will lead to faster growth. Infosys has reduced its target margin band to 22-24% in FY19 from 23-25%. It expects to grow 6-8% in dollar revenue, lower than the 7-9% industry growth forecast by software body Nasscom.