PwC on Monday said it will further expand its presence in India, in line with its "strategic commitment to the country's growth."
With a current workforce of over 50,000 people in the country, PwC in India expects to grow its talent pool to 80,000 over the next five years, the auditing and consultancy firm says in a statement.
"To further this agenda, PwC India and PwC US have entered into a joint venture in India to accelerate growth, expand client relationships and enhance quality."
PwC India has been steadily expanding its geographical presence in the country for several years.
In 2022 alone, PwC India opened three new offices in Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, and Noida to focus on hiring local, highly skilled talent.
As a part of its new global strategy, The New Equation, launched in 2021, the firm announced its commitment to furthering the country's economic development, harnessing the potential of the domestic market and creating more opportunities for society at large.
PwC India said it is making strategic investments in response to the ever-changing business environment and the evolving needs of clients and other stakeholders across the globe. This includes strengthening in-demand capabilities and service offerings by making acquisitions and continuing investments in practices like managed services, contract compliance, captive advisory and product development.
"We are committed to playing a meaningful role in India's growth story and are working closely with clients and stakeholders to help solve important problems and create avenues towards a very bright future for our country. Our new venture is just one step forward in this direction and will further attempt to harness India’s vast demographic dividend," says Sanjeev Krishan, chairperson, PwC in India.
"India is a strategically important geography for the PwC Network. We will continue to focus on enhancing our local capabilities and capacities," he adds.
Tim Ryan, chair and senior partner, PwC US, says the enhanced collaboration between PwC India and PwC US will further "accelerate the growth of our global talent footprint and help deliver greater value to our clients."
"It will also create more opportunities for our people to develop deep technical acumen — all underpinned by quality," says Ryan.
The development comes over two weeks after PwC's 26th Annual Global CEO Survey said India CEOs' confidence in their own company's growth prospects has declined significantly to 60% in 2023 from 83% last year. About 57% of India Inc. CEOs expect the country's economic growth to improve over the next 12 months even as 78% of CEOs foresee a decline in global economic growth over the next 12 months, the report said. This is the most pessimistic CEOs have been regarding global economic growth and is a significant departure from the optimistic outlooks of 2021 and 2022.
While cost cuts are high on the priority list globally, 85% of India CEOs do not plan to reduce headcount, and 96% do not plan to reduce compensation – demonstrating their resolve to retain talent, the PwC report said in January.
