Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries refutes reports of job cuts, promises more hiring in India

Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries has turned down reports which suggest that the IT giant may see substantial job cuts across its offices. In a recent interview with CNBC-TV18, Humphries said that his company would continue to hire more people in India and abroad as it continues to grow and invest in technology.

"I think a lot of this is noise that you see popping up in the media in the absence of other headlines... As we accelerate our growth we will actually hire more people, so, on the contrary, I am expecting to increase headcounts in India and indeed internationally," Humphries said during the interview.

Earlier this month, Humphries had announced that the Cognizant has over two lakh employees in India. It became the second company after Tata Consultancy to reach this milestone.

The Cognizant CEO, however, clarified during his interview with CNBC-TV18 that the workforce will be reshaped to accommodate talent with focus on newer technologies. Humphries said that the skills needed for the new jobs will be centred around artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, and such.

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On Cognizant's growth outlook, Humphries admitted that the company has not been performing to its full potential and this has been his focus since he joined in April this year. He expressed confidence in his vision for the company, and the prospect that Cognizant will be able to speed up its growth in coming days.

"I think the fundamentals of the business remain very strong. It is clear that we haven't been performing to our potential so that has really been my focus since I have joined. I spend all my time internally with our associates, all our time with customers and really trying to drive our strong values. So I am confident that the market is strong and we will be able to accelerate growth into the future," Humphries told the channel.

Humphries also discussed the slowdown fears in US economy. "I think the shift to digital will drive further growth opportunities. At this moment we are actually investing in sales headcount, both in North America as well as internationally. So we have approved up to 500 headcount additions with a view to getting that market opportunity and indeed with a view to accelerating our growth rate," the Cognizant CEO said.

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