India’s top four IT companies have reported a combined headcount drop of 50,875 at the end of the fiscal third quarter from a year earlier.
Over the year, the headcount at India’s largest software services firm, TCS, dropped by 10,669. Infosys reported a 24,182 reduction, while Wipro posted a 18,510 fall. At HCLTech, the number increased by 2,486.

Senior-level churn
The sector has also been embroiled in a poaching row, with Infosys and Wipro accusing Cognizant of poaching employees. Wipro sued two people – former chief financial Officer Jatin Dalal and executive Mohd Haque – after they joined Cognizant. Infosys, not long after, sent a notice to the US-listed rival.

Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra have seen a spate of top-level exits over the past year. While TCS and HCLTech also saw exits, they were fewer in number.

“There’s nothing personal or targeted in the way we are dealing with contract obligations. We are sticking to business practice. We’ve been in this business for 30 years. I know how this works. We only apply those normal terms,” Wipro chief executive Theirry Delaporte said during the company’s earnings press conference Friday.

Infosys chief Salil Parekh recently declined to comment on the matter of poaching.Speaking about the end of his tenure in 2025, Delaporte said: “It is my responsibility to make sure that we are building the proper succession planning for my role like for every other leadership role in the organisation, and this is what I’ve been focusing on for the last years.”

HCLTech had announced earlier in the year that it would not roll out hikes for senior management. Ramachandran Sundararajan, chief people officer, said the hikes still covered 90% of the employee base. “What is not covered (by hikes) is not a large proportion and there has been no impact on senior-level attrition. The leadership team is very stable,” he said.

Reducing headcount
HCLTech ended the third quarter with 224,756 employees. The company had reduced headcount by over 2,200 in the previous quarter. The Noida-based company also reported that it onboarded 3,818 freshers over the quarter, taking its total number of freshers hired so far this fiscal year to about 9,000. This comes at a time when IT companies have seen muted demand for campus hires.

The second-largest IT company, Infosys, said it does not currently see an immediate need for campus hiring. TCS said it has commenced campus recruitment.

HCLTech employees received annual wage hikes in the range of 5-7% with top performers getting a 12-15% increase.

CEO C Vijyakumar said after HCLTech chief delivery officer for near shore and new vistas locations VV Apparao quit in November, his portfolio was taken over by chief operating officer Rahul Singh. The company also announced the appointment of Bhavani Balasubramanian as an independent director.

Wipro’s workforce continued to drop with a decrease of 4,473 sequentially during the October-December period, ending the total employee count at 240,234. The headcount had dipped by 5,051 between July and September. The salary hikes at Wipro given in December were in the 6-8% range, said Aparna Iyer, chief financial officer.

Wipro chief HR officer Saurabh Govil said the company still has enough internal talent base and will continue to hire for specific skills. “On the hiring front, we have a talent pool available, as well as we have people who we have offered (jobs) and as demand comes in, we will first dip in here,” said Govil.

TCS and Infosys cumulatively shed 12,000 employees in Q3 from a quarter earlier.

The IT sector would onboard 32% fewer engineering graduates in fiscal 2024 compared with fiscal 2023, according to a report published by TeamLease Digital in December. The findings indicate that 155,000 freshers are likely to be hired in the IT/Tech sector this fiscal as compared to 230,000 last fiscal year. However, data sourced by ET show that there has been some uptick in lateral demand since December 2023.

India’s top four IT companies have reported a combined headcount drop of 50,875 at the end of the fiscal third quarter from a year earlier.
Over the year, the headcount at India’s largest software services firm, TCS, dropped by 10,669. Infosys reported a 24,182 reduction, while Wipro posted a 18,510 fall. At HCLTech, the number increased by 2,486.

Senior-level churn
The sector has also been embroiled in a poaching row, with Infosys and Wipro accusing Cognizant of poaching employees. Wipro sued two people – former chief financial Officer Jatin Dalal and executive Mohd Haque – after they joined Cognizant. Infosys, not long after, sent a notice to the US-listed rival.

Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra have seen a spate of top-level exits over the past year. While TCS and HCLTech also saw exits, they were fewer in number.

“There’s nothing personal or targeted in the way we are dealing with contract obligations. We are sticking to business practice. We’ve been in this business for 30 years. I know how this works. We only apply those normal terms,” Wipro chief executive Theirry Delaporte said during the company’s earnings press conference Friday.

Infosys chief Salil Parekh recently declined to comment on the matter of poaching.Speaking about the end of his tenure in 2025, Delaporte said: “It is my responsibility to make sure that we are building the proper succession planning for my role like for every other leadership role in the organisation, and this is what I’ve been focusing on for the last years.”

HCLTech had announced earlier in the year that it would not roll out hikes for senior management. Ramachandran Sundararajan, chief people officer, said the hikes still covered 90% of the employee base. “What is not covered (by hikes) is not a large proportion and there has been no impact on senior-level attrition. The leadership team is very stable,” he said.

Reducing headcount
HCLTech ended the third quarter with 224,756 employees. The company had reduced headcount by over 2,200 in the previous quarter. The Noida-based company also reported that it onboarded 3,818 freshers over the quarter, taking its total number of freshers hired so far this fiscal year to about 9,000. This comes at a time when IT companies have seen muted demand for campus hires.

The second-largest IT company, Infosys, said it does not currently see an immediate need for campus hiring. TCS said it has commenced campus recruitment.

HCLTech employees received annual wage hikes in the range of 5-7% with top performers getting a 12-15% increase.

CEO C Vijyakumar said after HCLTech chief delivery officer for near shore and new vistas locations VV Apparao quit in November, his portfolio was taken over by chief operating officer Rahul Singh. The company also announced the appointment of Bhavani Balasubramanian as an independent director.

Wipro’s workforce continued to drop with a decrease of 4,473 sequentially during the October-December period, ending the total employee count at 240,234. The headcount had dipped by 5,051 between July and September. The salary hikes at Wipro given in December were in the 6-8% range, said Aparna Iyer, chief financial officer.

Wipro chief HR officer Saurabh Govil said the company still has enough internal talent base and will continue to hire for specific skills. “On the hiring front, we have a talent pool available, as well as we have people who we have offered (jobs) and as demand comes in, we will first dip in here,” said Govil.

TCS and Infosys cumulatively shed 12,000 employees in Q3 from a quarter earlier.

The IT sector would onboard 32% fewer engineering graduates in fiscal 2024 compared with fiscal 2023, according to a report published by TeamLease Digital in December. The findings indicate that 155,000 freshers are likely to be hired in the IT/Tech sector this fiscal as compared to 230,000 last fiscal year. However, data sourced by ET show that there has been some uptick in lateral demand since December 2023.