US-headquartered IT major Cognizant saw its headcount going up by 3,800 sequentially in its third quarter, a similar trend seen in other India centric IT firms. However, its headcount declined by 6,500 on-year in the just concluded quarter.

In August, Cognizant completed the acquisition of Belcan which had 6,500 employees. Factoring the number of employees who joined from Belcan acquisition, the company’s net headcount, however, witnessed an organic reduction.

To a question from ET on the company’s attrition, Ravi Kumar S, chief executive of Cognizant said that about 13,000 people have come back to Cognizant after leaving the organisation in the past across the world. He said, “People are coming back. These are people who had left us. And nothing can be better than that.”

The new Jersey based company follows the January – December calendar year as its financial year. The IT major’s utilisation rate increased by a percentage point to 84% in the third quarter. Kumar said that Cognizant is going to campuses next year in a big way.

Attrition was at 14.6% for the third quarter, up by 150 bps (100 basis points is 1%) in the last two quarters. Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer, said attrition is still in the band which is comfortable for us to operate. “It has not gone up to any degree to a point of worry.”

The September quarter marked a reversal of headcount trend in the $250 billion-plus Indian IT industry with top six players adding over 17,500 employees in the same quarter. HCLTech was the only company from the top tier to see its workforce reduce by 780 people last quarter largely due to its divestment of a joint venture with US-based State Street.

Riding on an uptick in discretionary demand, Cognizant crossed the $5 billion quarterly revenue mark in its third quarter. Boosted by its performance and its recent acquisition, the IT major also revised its FY24 annual revenue guidance up to 1.4% to 1.9% in constant currency (this assumes approximately 200 basis points of inorganic contribution), from its earlier guidance of -0.5 to 1%.

US-headquartered IT major Cognizant saw its headcount going up by 3,800 sequentially in its third quarter, a similar trend seen in other India centric IT firms. However, its headcount declined by 6,500 on-year in the just concluded quarter.

In August, Cognizant completed the acquisition of Belcan which had 6,500 employees. Factoring the number of employees who joined from Belcan acquisition, the company’s net headcount, however, witnessed an organic reduction.

To a question from ET on the company’s attrition, Ravi Kumar S, chief executive of Cognizant said that about 13,000 people have come back to Cognizant after leaving the organisation in the past across the world. He said, “People are coming back. These are people who had left us. And nothing can be better than that.”

The new Jersey based company follows the January – December calendar year as its financial year. The IT major’s utilisation rate increased by a percentage point to 84% in the third quarter. Kumar said that Cognizant is going to campuses next year in a big way.

Attrition was at 14.6% for the third quarter, up by 150 bps (100 basis points is 1%) in the last two quarters. Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer, said attrition is still in the band which is comfortable for us to operate. “It has not gone up to any degree to a point of worry.”

The September quarter marked a reversal of headcount trend in the $250 billion-plus Indian IT industry with top six players adding over 17,500 employees in the same quarter. HCLTech was the only company from the top tier to see its workforce reduce by 780 people last quarter largely due to its divestment of a joint venture with US-based State Street.

Riding on an uptick in discretionary demand, Cognizant crossed the $5 billion quarterly revenue mark in its third quarter. Boosted by its performance and its recent acquisition, the IT major also revised its FY24 annual revenue guidance up to 1.4% to 1.9% in constant currency (this assumes approximately 200 basis points of inorganic contribution), from its earlier guidance of -0.5 to 1%.