Infosys, Wipro silent on their Russian operations

IT giants reportedly contemplating relocation of Eastern European ops

Indian IT services giants Infosys and Wipro both operate offices in Russia - and neither is saying what will become of them.

Evidence of the two companies' Russian presences are not hard to find. Infosys lists a Moscow office among its European points of presence, and in 2016 proudly announced the founding of a development center to support its heavy engineering practice.

Wipro published a "Special Purpose Financial Statements and Auditor's Report" for an entity named "Wipro Technologies Limited, Russia" in a document [PDF] dated March 31, 2021. The document reports that the entity earned revenue of ₽78 million (about $1,045,000 at the time) for the year under audit.

Neither Wipro nor Infosys responded to The Register's queries about their intentions within the timeframe we set for responses to this article.

We cannot therefore offer any information about Wipro's Ukraine subsidiary, which operates in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Rival India firms offered expressions of support for Ukraine.

TCS told us the company is "concerned about the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Ukraine" and that the company has donated one million Euros to European aid agencies while matching any contributions from their employees.

HCL, which doesn't have a presence in the region, said: "We remain focused on maintaining the highest service delivery levels for our clients, and there has been no impact on client operations."

The Noida-headquartered company said it was committed to providing care and assistance to all its employees with family members in Ukraine, as well as ongoing outreach to employees and their families in neighboring countries.

The silence of Wipro and Infosys contrasts with the likes of fellow consultancies PwC, KPMG, Accenture and DXC, which have all quit Russia – citing a desire to protest Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

In India, meanwhile, media has speculated that the invasion's obvious negative impact on Ukraine’s outsourcing industry could see work move to India.

Other reports and speculation suggest India's tech companies are monitoring the situation in Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe, with relocation of staff under consideration. ®