INDIA’S business strengths, as a top human resource consultant puts it, lie in its widespread tolerance for “ambiguity, complexity and multitasking”. A handful of rich and famous homegrown companies can testify to the benefits these traits yield, but not as aptly as one multinational can.

Now into its fourteenth Indian summer, International Business Machines Corp (IBM) has grown rapidly in India—faster on several counts than any other multinational tech company here. From 9,400 employees in December 2003, IBM India crossed 43,000 people this June. That five-fold increase slots the American tech and consulting giant as India’s top MNC employer.

It’s not that there is no competition from the Indian technology companies to IBM’s hiring spree, which started in 1992. Infosys Technologies’ headcount crossed 50,000 this year, while earlier this year, TCS announced plans to add 30,500 people in 2006-2007 alone. The difference, it seems, is that IBM staged its coup off those three uniquely Indian characteristics: Ambiguity, complexity and multitasking.

“For people used to very simple companies, IBM is a very different place. We do so much that all Indian IT and services companies can aptly be called the competition!” says Shanker Annaswamy, managing director, IBM India. “Of course, we do have a lot more on our plate than companies anywhere in the world, not just the firms in India today.”

That plateful includes life-science research, grid computing, chip design, software, computer hardware, e-governance, business consulting, remote infrastructure management and business transformation outsourcing. It even makes the chips that run PC games (such as those sold by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft sell). And in all these fields, the 43,000 employees in India have at least some role to play.

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