Indian IT major Infosys is set to increase its local workforce in Australia by 100 employees after it was awarded a 450-million Australian dollars contract last week. "Infosys is recruiting for a variety of positions this financial year (April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010) primarily at senior and middle levels.

This may also include some junior level employees who have graduated within the last few years. "The growth will occur predominantly in Sydney and Melbourne, but also may see some people traveling to New Zealand for assignment," Infosys spokesperson told PTI today.

Infosys Australia last week announced that it had been chosen by Telstra as a key strategic partner to support its five-year 450 million AUD application development and maintenance contracts. "The recent Telstra win is one of the many factors behind this recruitment.

"The growth is supported by a desire to hire locally for longer term assignments rather than being dependent on niche skills being supported from India; the build-up of new talent to (complement) our Consulting and Systems Integration Unit launched earlier this year and various new opportunities which are opening up across other industry verticals," she said. The company claims to have about 2,500 staff currently serving Australia and New Zealand clients with about 1,000 of them located in Australia.

Infosys has offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.