BDO TO HIRE 25,000 IN INDIA OVER NEXT 5 YEARS: MILIND KOTHARI

Professional services firm BDO will hire 25,000 people in India over the next five years as part of a plan to scale up its country operations and global development centre, said Milind Kothari, its India managing partner. Last week, BDO India surpassed 5,000 in employee count.

The accounting firm, which started out in 2013 with two offices and 230 employees, is poised to add another 17,000 employees to its India practice and 8,000 to its global development centre-also in the country--by the end of 2028, according to Kothari.

In a 10-year timeframe, the firm has successfully managed to establish a foothold in the highly competitive industry of professional services, which is largely dominated by the Big Four firms.

BDO's 40% average yearly growth has been fuelled by the audit's 40-45% yearon-year growth, its advisory services (IBS, transaction support services, etc.), with 30-35% growth, as well as business function outsourcing, with over 40% growth.

"We are riding the India $10 trillion story. We believe that the top six firms in India will only grow bigger as India Inc looks for different services to support their growth," said Kothari. The CEO said the firm has identified a significant opportunity for providing channel two work-non-audit services-in companies where the Big Four- EY- Deloitte - PwC and KPMG--face conflict of interest. "We are already the sixth-largest audit firm in India, clocking 40-plus year-on- year growth," said Kothari. "We believe that conventional services will grow, but technology, outsourcing and ESG will be big for us in the future."

With the odds stacked against them in a cutthroat market, the firm started by targeting mid-market clients, but after persistent effort and strategic maneuvering, they managed to clinch business from large conglomerates as well as multinational corporations (MNCs), usually the domain of firms like EY, Deloitte and PwC.

Source: Economic Times