INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Tata Consultancy to slow hiring in 2009

* plans to slow new hiring, especially of experienced staff

* expects earnings growth in 2009 despite tough outlook

* not targetting Satyam customers after scandal (Adds details, background)

SINGAPORE, Jan 23 - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) <TCS.BO>, India's largest IT outsourcing firm, said it expects to slow its rate of hiring new staff this year as a broad economic downturn affects its global clientele.

Chief executive S. Ramadorai told Reuters in an interview on Friday that the company expects to add 15,000-18,000 people to its headcount over the next 12 months, compared with nearly 8,700 in the three months to December.

Ramadorai said some contracts and projects were being delayed or cancelled, but the company expected to achieve some earnings growth in 2009 despite the worsening global economic outlook. "We are confident of some growth, but what that amount is is difficult to say," he said.

"Yes, we are winning some contracts, but then there are delays in the decision-making on a number of contracts," he said, adding there were hold-ups in implementing deals that had already been signed as well as several project cancellations.

"The slowdown is very obvious and very visible, and we think it will continue for the foreseeable future."

Ramadorai declined to comment about ongoing problems at rival Satyam Computer Services <SATY.BO>, whose recent revelations of overstated profits and fictitious assets have cast a shadow over India's IT outsourcing sector. [ID:nSP395710]

He said, however, that TCS did not plan to target Satyam customers who may be wary of doing business with the troubled firm.

"We do have a set of common customers and we will respond to their queries about our ability to service them (but) we are not doing any proactive steps to approach their customers."

GROWTH SLOWDOWN

Indian IT outsourcing firms such as TCS and Infosys Technologies <INFY.BO> have expanded rapidly in recent years by tapping the country's large pool of inexpensive English-speaking engineers to provide services to Western companies at lower cost.

In the case of TCS, its headcount has more than doubled over the past three years to around 144,500 from 62,000 as of March 2006.

That growth is, however, expected to slow in coming months as the recession in the West crimps demand for IT services, especially by the financial sector that accounts for 42 percent of TCS' revenue.

TCS, part of India's Tata Group, posted a lower-than-expected 1.6 percent rise in October-December net profit on Jan. 15.

Ramadorai said TCS had completed its hiring for 2009 with job offers made to about 24,000 students during its campus recruitment exercise. Not all of them will accept positions with TCS and there will be resignations over the course of the year, he added.

"These (new hires) are spread over the whole year... We are able to watch demand and see if we need to make any adjustments," he said.