wipro to go ahead wid hiring plans

India's third-biggest software exporter Wipro Technologies on Tuesday said that it will hire around 13,500 engineering graduates as> planned earlier. This comes at a time when the company is coping with a slowing demand for its services in the US and European markets. Wipro, which has offered these graduates an option of joining the company's BPO arm, said it will not change the salary package for those opting to join Wipro BPO. As reported by ET last week, these graduates have the option of joining Wipro's BPO division. The company has come up with the option since it anticipates a slowdown in projects in its software services business. This is already happening. Pradeep Bahirwani, vice-president for talent acquisition at Wipro, said that more than 95% of the engineering graduates have already accepted the option of working in Wipro's BPO centre in Kolkata. These fresh hires would be transitioned to the IT services segment within 12-18 months as their BPO experience would be considered relevant. These graduates will make anywhere between Rs 2.75 lakh and Rs 3.25 lakh per annum. Engineering graduates who are not willing to join Wipro BPO will have to wait for around two quarters before they are accommodated in the IT services business. The company added that the nature of work for those joining BPO will be in the non-voice segment, dealing with transaction processing which requires technical expertise.