IBM denies report it will hire 2,200 in Calcutta

It called the report 'grossly exaggerated,' but does have expansion plans in India

By Peter Sayer

March 12, 2004 12:00 PM ET

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IDG News Service - Sensitive to allegations that it's moving U.S. jobs overseas to cut costs, IBM described as "grossly exaggerated" a report that it plans to recruit thousands of staffers in Calcutta, India.
The company does plan to expand its operations in India, but recruitment there will be "modest," according to Fred McNeese, IBM's director of media relations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
While the practice of moving manufacturing jobs to low-cost countries is commonplace, "offshoring" has only recently begun to affect the technology industry. IBM, and its Global Services outsourcing arm in particular, has been the focus of concern in the U.S. that many skilled technology jobs are being moved overseas.
According to a report in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal today, city authorities in Calcutta said IBM plans to increase staff numbers in the city to 4,000. IBM employs 1,800 people in Calcutta today, mostly in its Global Services division, the report said.
IBM disputed the report.
"The estimates for the current population [of employees] and hiring plans are both grossly exaggerated," McNeese said. "While we plan growth in India, it's both modest and nowhere close to what is being reported by The Wall Street Journal."
However, he wouldn't say how many employees the company has in Calcutta or what he meant by "modest" plans. "We're not going to comment on specific numbers of employees in an area of the country or on plans to hire," McNeese said.

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