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HP: Staff layoffs won't hit India

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman "bullish" about India market and says workforce in country won't be reduced despite company's global restructuring exercise.
Written by Jamie Yap, Contributor

During her first visit to India, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman said no cuts will be made in its local workforce amid the company's global restructuring move.

"We are not reducing our workforce in India. We have announced a global workforce reduction, but India will stay largely intact because we not only have all our business units here, but also our R&D (research and development) and backoffice," Whitman said in an Economic Times report Monday. "We are focused on keeping our workforce here, and I think over time, probably increase the workforce."

Whitman added she was "very bullish" about the Indian market, and her visit to the country within a year of assuming the CEO post demonstrated HP's commitment to India.

"We think the opportunity is huge here, and by and large, the Indian business has delivered," she said. "Despite the fact that the Indian economy has been shaky, I think this year we will outgrow the market in many of our businesses, not all, but many."

"What is great about India for HP is all of our businesses are represented here, everything from PCs to printers to software, servers, networking and storage. Then we have our services businesses as well as our technology consulting services. In a funny way, it is a microcosm in this market of big HP," she said.

The Economic Times said Whitman has set sights on India as part of a wider corporate strategy for growth in emerging markets.

According to HP's fourth quarter 2011 report, 65 percent of its total revenue came from outside the United States. Specifically, Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) accounted for 12 percent of total revenue.

Back in May, HP announced 27,000 job cuts--around 8 percent of its global workforce--which will save the company some US$3 billion to US$3.5 billion. The savings will be pumped into R&D investment. During the same month, the merger of HP's PC and printer units was final, following Whitman's announcement in March.

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