French technology firm Atos has announced that they will be recruiting about 15,000 people in India over the next 12 months, adding to its existing workforce of 40,000 in the country. The move comes after Atos acquires Paladion, an AI-driven MDR provider, which boasts quite a presence in India.

“We are experiencing a productivity shock, like what we experienced 20 years ago, thanks to the acceleration of digitisation, and India is at the heart of it,” said Elie Girard, CEO of Atos in an interview to Economic Times.

He also added that this has resulted in a demand boom across sectors, including the public sector and defense, which would benefit employment. India is by far the best provider of those skills in the world, but at present, there is tension between demand and supply.

The hiring announcement adds another feather in the cap of the brewing relationship with the French firm and Indian Government after a recent decision to partner on the National Supercomputing Mission. Additionally, Atos made a bid to acquire DXC Technology but the deal fell through for reasons not revealed yet.

Atos was in the news quite recently for being the firm responsible for digital integration as well as operations and program management at the Olympic Games. The successful digital setup enabled millions of fans to follow the event across the globe, amidst the pandemic. With the spotlight of Olympic Games now over for them, it would be interesting to see how the firm attempts to set a foothold in acquiring talent in India.