While appreciating the Center’s Agnipath program for providing opportunities to young people in India, Infosys co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani said on Saturday that his company will follow its own selection criteria for recruiting people to the company.
Speaking at the 41st Annual General Meeting, Nilekani said Infosys recognizes the potential of the output of the Agniveer plan introduced by the government.
“We believe this is a great opportunity for young people to not only start a career in a highly disciplined ecosystem, but it will also help build skills for the future career. Infosys is always looking to expand a talent pool and we will follow our established selection criteria when recruiting employees,” said Nilekani.
He responded to a question from a shareholder whether Infosys would consider offering jobs to Agniveers.
Infosys has more than 3 lakh employees around the world, 39.6 percent of them are women.
Company leaders such as Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Biocon Chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Apollo Hospitals Group Director Sangita Reddy and others have spoken out in support of the Agnipath plan.
The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of young people between the ages of 17 and a half to 21 for just four years, with a stipulation to hold 25 percent of them for another 15 years.
Later, the government extended the maximum age for recruitment to 23 years in 2022.
However, mass protests have erupted in many states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with young people taking to the streets to express their dismay at the plan.
