Cognizant will expand its headcount in India by about 14,700 this year and would also broadbase its talent pool by hiring doctors, lawyers and CAs.

The move comes at a time when global giants like Yahoo and IBM are cutting their workforce in the backdrop of wage inflation, rupee rise and US slowdown.

The BPO firm said it plans to add 16,600-19,600 professionals globally in 2008 to take its global headcount to 72,000-75,000.

"We will go after, beyond engineering, management and science disciplines. It will include doctors, lawyers, CAs, pharmacists, bio-statisticians and supply chain specialists for our IT services and KPO practice," Cognizants vice president for human resources Bhaskar Das said.