IBM downplays Indian hiring plans

IBM intends to hire more technical experts in India this year--but not nearly the 4,700 employees The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. "While we plan growth in India, it is, by any measure, modest and nowhere close to what is being reported by The Wall Street Journal," an IBM spokesperson said.

Quoting local government officials, the newspaper reported that IBM was beefing up its presence in the eastern city of Calcutta by investing in office buildings and hiring software engineers. IBM said the Journal "grossly exaggerated" its Indian hires, which are part of a plan to add 15,000 employees worldwide in 2004, to be spread across the United States, Europe and Asia--about 5,000 per region. IBM has also said it will transfer about 3,000 jobs overseas from the United States this year.