Indian firm 'eyeing UK graduates'

Meet the man behind Wipro

An India-based outsourcing giant is to start recruiting UK graduates, as it tries to find staff to work with British firms, a report has said.

Software specialist Wipro says it wants to employ people who can better understand the cultural requirements of its British clients.

The firm has made its mark by offering services to global firms using the comparably cheap Indian workforce.

However The Sunday Telegraph says Wipro will begin targeting UK universities.

The firm, which already has bases in Reading and London, employs 1,800 people in the UK.

It is also expected to open up a new development centre near Birmingham which will employ 500 people, the paper said.

The report added that the graduates, recruited on the 2007 university "milk round" will spend some time in India as part of their training.

Big names

Wipro hires 20,000 graduates each year in India, and faces competition from foreign multinationals also flooding into Bangalore.

As the demand for IT professionals has risen in India, Wipro has been forced to raise salaries twice in 2006.

Its existing clients include Nokia ,Thames water and the insurer Aviva.

Outsourcing work to countries such as India is a sensitive topic, with its skilled workforce and cheap labour seen by some as a threat to British jobs.