Infosys hikes were between 11 to 13% while the industry paid 7 to 9%. According to Pai, the industry hikes this year would remain in the 8 to 11% range. "The threat of wage rise affecting competitiveness in receding," Pai said.
There is high supply of talent, Pai said. However, the company has had to invest heavily in training to cover up the deficit in education, he said. Infosys annual training budget was Rs 750 crore. "Once we build up capacity then it is fine," Pai said.
Also, Infosys is increasingly souring talent from overseas and building business by local hiring, Pai said. It has about 4,425 people from South East Asia, US, Mexico, Australia and East Europe on its roll. Pai said more expatriate talent would come to India if the countrys infrastructure was better and offered quality lifestyle. The company was creating capacities but the countrys infrastructure was not keeping pace, he added. "The country is finding it difficult to handle prosperity. It can handle shortage and scarcity and it is more used to this," Pai said.
This is the experience in all the cities. With the kind of growth, Infosys has been having in Pune it has had to invest heavily in the infrastructure.