PwC will hire around 30,000 people in India in couple of years: Chairman

Global consultancy firm PwC will hire around 30,000 people in India in the next couple of years, company Chairman Bob Moritz said on Friday.

In a panel discussion at the Global Business Summit organised by the Economic Times, he said India can be a supplier of that talent to the world, thanks to its technology advancements and the use of AI (artificial intelligence), which the rest of the world doesn't have that skill set.

"So, today we've got about 31,000 people. Just so we're clear, and some of that's been reported on this, and our plan is to hire another 30,000 in the next couple of years.

"That's the boldness," Moritz said when asked about the company's headcount in India.

Schneider Electric Chairman & CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire also said he was "super optimistic about India".

"There is no other place in the world where we have invested most, more than in India over the past 20 years...India is today our third largest business in the world after the US and China," he said.

Further, he said, "We believe in India, we are committed to India now. As we know, India is actually at the core of everything we do."

Tricoire said India also has a lot of potential in the clean energy sector.

"I see a lot of potential here because if you look at digitisation, IoT (Internet of Things), smart buildings, smart 'everything', which other countries (should) better do to digitise everything than India," he noted.

On electrification, he said India is "extremely well equipped" to handle a mix of energies, including solar and hydrogen.