IT giant Wipro is expected to hire over 20,000 employees during the next fiscal, which will be about 50 per cent more than the current year, even as the company has moved key accounts like Citibank and BP to be handled by vertical heads.

Sources in Wipro told Business Line that the next year (2011-12) hirings will be much higher than this year's. Wipro has also moved some of its key accounts to vertical heads, as part of an organisation change it had effected early this year.

As far as new hirings are concerned, it will be carried out through lateral, Wipro Academy of Software Excellence (WASE) and Wipro Eco-System (WES). WASE is a 4-year off campus MS Programme organised in collaboration with BITS, Pilani and under WES, Wipro works with mid-sized firms through whom it hires employees on a contract basis.