Infosys CEO says 40 per cent recruits are from rural areas

As many as 40 per cent of new employees of Bangalore-based software major, Infosys, are from non-urban areas, the company CEO S Gopalakrishnan said today. "We were pleasantly surprised that 40 per cent of new employees joining are not from urban areas", Gopalakrishnan said in answer to a question at the innovation convention, organised by the IIT Kanpur Alumni Association to mark its gold jubilee celebrations.

The informal survey by Infosys also revealed that one or both the parents of the majority of these non-urban area employees had not completed Secondary School Leaving Certificate, given on completion of class X. Gopalakrishnan termed the entry of people from non-urban areas into the company as a "quiet transformation" in changing people''s lives and in adding more people to "middle-class". He said the survey showed businesses could hire people from rural areas without establishing a base in the countryside.

However, he mentioned many IT companies were now carrying operations in tier-II cities and the Government was also encouraging setting up of rural BPOs. Gopalakrishnan suggested that Government should make it mandatory for BPOs offering public services to have operations only in rural areas.