MUMBAI: In what may be a sigh of relief for thousands of Hewlett-Packard (HP) employees in India, Meg Whitman, the president and CEO of the Palo Alto-based IT major, announced that there will be no job cuts in India during the restructuring exercise that's being carried out globally.

On a three-day visit to India recently, Whitman told ET in an exclusive interview that HP was bullish on India and over time may also add to the Indian workforce.

"We are not reducing our workforce in India. We have announced a global workforce reduction, but India will stay largely intact, because we not only have all our business units here, but also our R&D and back office. We are focused on keeping our workforce here, and I think over time, probably increase the workforce," said Whitman.

Though HP doesn't give out its India employee numbers, industry experts say more than 30,000 of 3,00,000-plus (349,600, according to HP website) global workforce operate out of India. In May, the 56-year-old CEO had announced a 27,000 - or 8% - job cut worldwide as part of a restructuring exercise to free cash for investments in innovation and strengthening the business units.

In one of her first major moves, the ex-eBay CEO, who took over in September last year, halted the spin-off of HP's PC division, merging it with the imaging and printing business in a strategic U-turn from predecessor Leo Apotheker's plan. As she unfolds a new strategic blueprint, India appears to be a focus market for the $127-billion behemoth.

According to Whitman, her visit to India in her first year on the job is a sign of HP's commitment to India. "We are very bullish on India. We think the opportunity is huge here, and by and large, the Indian business has delivered. Despite the fact that the Indian economy has been shaky, I think this year we will outgrow the market in many of our businesses, not all, but many," she said.

"What is great about India for HP is all of our businesses are represented here, everything from PCs to printers to software, servers, networking and storage. Then we have our services businesses as well as our technology consulting services. In a funny way, it is a microcosm in this market of big HP," Whitman added. The move can be seen as a part of a strategic push for growth in emerging markets.

The HP 2011 annual report gives an insight into the focus. The report says: "Sales outside of US make 65%. In addition, an increasing portion of our activity is being conducted in emerging markets, including Brazil, Russia, Indian and China."

Acquisitions have always been part of a growth strategy for all global majors, including HP. The iconic technology giant has acquired some marquee companies like Palm, Autonomy and 3Com in the recent past. Whitman says the focus now is consolidation in India.

HP won't cut jobs in India; may add to workforce in long term: Meg Whitman - The Economic Times