As part of the campus placement drive, IT services major Infosys has launched a ‘power programme’ for colleges with differential hiring, offering packages of up to Rs 9 lakh per annum, two people aware of the development told ET.

This is substantially higher than the entry-level fresher pay packages of Rs 3-3.5 lakh offered by the Bengaluru-based company.

“The focus of these categories of hiring is on coding and software challenges, programming skill testing and other specialised skill tests for both tests and interviews,” one of the sources said. “For Infosys, these pay packages offered are between Rs 4-6.5 lakh and Rs 9 lakh.”

The initiative is akin to bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services’ ‘Prime’ specialised hiring of freshers for software development profiles.

TCS offers salaries in the range of Rs 9-11 lakh per annum under ‘Prime’, a programme it launched last year. The firm has expanded its scope this year, adding newer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning (ML).

TCS now hires freshers under three categories – ‘Ninja’ that offers packages at around Rs 3.6 lakh, ‘Digital’ at Rs 7.5 lakh, and ‘Prime’.

TCS and Infosys did not respond to requests for comment until press time Monday.After a lull for almost four quarters, Infosys plans to hire 15,000-20,000 graduates in FY25 while TCS looks to hire approximately 40,000 freshers – consistent with its hiring numbers last year.

Typically, the minimum salaries offered to freshers by top IT majors including TCS and Infosys is in the range of Rs 3-4 lakh.

However, with the subdued demand environment amid a weak macro environment, IT firms are increasingly hiring specialised skilled talent in the space of cloud computing, AI/ML, and cybersecurity to work on digital transformation projects that are currently on the rise.

“As you know, in the last multiple quarters, we have moved to the agile hiring base. That basically means we hire freshers both from the campus and off the campus,” Jayesh Sanghrajka, chief financial officer at Infosys, said in the firm’s post June quarter (Q1) earnings conference call last month.

Over the past year, the slowing business of the $250-billion technology services sector has forced most software exporters – known to be mass recruiters of engineers – to shed their headcounts.

In fiscal 2024, the top five IT companies in India between them reduced the number of employees by more than 70,000.

While TCS witnessed an improvement in the June quarter with 5,452 additions, its net employee count had reduced for the previous three consecutive quarters. During FY24, for the first time in 19 years, the Tata subsidiary and IT bellwether had reported an annual drop in its employee base, which fell by 13,249 from FY23.

At Infosys, the headcount dropped by nearly 2,000 during April to June, taking its total number of employees to 315,332.

HCLTech said it added 1,078 freshers in the first quarter of FY25 compared to 3,096 in the previous quarter.

Infosys at its earnings call last month said it will resume campus placements as well as off-campus fresher hiring this fiscal year.

Together, the country’s top four IT firms are expected to add about 82,000 freshers in FY25, with HCLTech and Wipro planning to hire 10,000 and up to 12,000 freshers, respectively.

As part of the campus placement drive, IT services major Infosys has launched a ‘power programme’ for colleges with differential hiring, offering packages of up to Rs 9 lakh per annum, two people aware of the development told ET.

This is substantially higher than the entry-level fresher pay packages of Rs 3-3.5 lakh offered by the Bengaluru-based company.

“The focus of these categories of hiring is on coding and software challenges, programming skill testing and other specialised skill tests for both tests and interviews,” one of the sources said. “For Infosys, these pay packages offered are between Rs 4-6.5 lakh and Rs 9 lakh.”

The initiative is akin to bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services’ ‘Prime’ specialised hiring of freshers for software development profiles.

TCS offers salaries in the range of Rs 9-11 lakh per annum under ‘Prime’, a programme it launched last year. The firm has expanded its scope this year, adding newer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning (ML).

TCS now hires freshers under three categories – ‘Ninja’ that offers packages at around Rs 3.6 lakh, ‘Digital’ at Rs 7.5 lakh, and ‘Prime’.

TCS and Infosys did not respond to requests for comment until press time Monday.After a lull for almost four quarters, Infosys plans to hire 15,000-20,000 graduates in FY25 while TCS looks to hire approximately 40,000 freshers – consistent with its hiring numbers last year.

Typically, the minimum salaries offered to freshers by top IT majors including TCS and Infosys is in the range of Rs 3-4 lakh.

However, with the subdued demand environment amid a weak macro environment, IT firms are increasingly hiring specialised skilled talent in the space of cloud computing, AI/ML, and cybersecurity to work on digital transformation projects that are currently on the rise.

“As you know, in the last multiple quarters, we have moved to the agile hiring base. That basically means we hire freshers both from the campus and off the campus,” Jayesh Sanghrajka, chief financial officer at Infosys, said in the firm’s post June quarter (Q1) earnings conference call last month.

Over the past year, the slowing business of the $250-billion technology services sector has forced most software exporters – known to be mass recruiters of engineers – to shed their headcounts.

In fiscal 2024, the top five IT companies in India between them reduced the number of employees by more than 70,000.

While TCS witnessed an improvement in the June quarter with 5,452 additions, its net employee count had reduced for the previous three consecutive quarters. During FY24, for the first time in 19 years, the Tata subsidiary and IT bellwether had reported an annual drop in its employee base, which fell by 13,249 from FY23.

At Infosys, the headcount dropped by nearly 2,000 during April to June, taking its total number of employees to 315,332.

HCLTech said it added 1,078 freshers in the first quarter of FY25 compared to 3,096 in the previous quarter.

Infosys at its earnings call last month said it will resume campus placements as well as off-campus fresher hiring this fiscal year.

Together, the country’s top four IT firms are expected to add about 82,000 freshers in FY25, with HCLTech and Wipro planning to hire 10,000 and up to 12,000 freshers, respectively.