Wipro’s headcount declines for the second quarter, down by 1,823 employees

Wipro previously saw a reduction in headcount for two quarters in the Covid quarters of Q4FY20 and Q1FY21.

IT major Wipro has witnessed a decline in its headcount for the second quarter. The company ended the fourth quarter of the 2023 fiscal year with 1,823 fewer employees than the previous quarter. In contrast, during the same period last year, it had added 11,457 employees. The previous quarter, ending in December 2022, also saw a reduction of 435 employees.

With this, the company’s net addition for FY23 stands at 13,793, down from FY22’s net addition of 45,416. The company’s total headcount now stands at 2,56,921.

Wipro previously saw a reduction in headcount for two quarters in the Covid quarters of Q4FY20 and Q1FY21.

Wipro had a strong net addition of 15,446 in the first quarter of the fiscal, which slipped to 605 in Q2. In Q3, the company saw its headcount decline by 435 employees, and now by 1,823.

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Wipro is the last of the four IT heavyweights to report its results for the March quarter and the full year. All of them have reported significant declines in net addition for the full year, and TCS and Infosys for the fourth quarter as well. Infosys also saw a decline in headcount this quarter.

Net addition is an indicator of demand, but also comes at a time that supply-side challenges are abating the macroeconomic environment is challenging.

Also Read: TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech record 65% decline in hiring as IT sector runs into a rough patch

The company's attrition rate has also continued to fall. Its attrition rate fell to 19.2 percent from 21.2 percent the previous quarter on a trailing twelve-month basis. The company's attrition reached 23.8 percent in Q4FY22 and has been trending downward since.

Wipro had initially set a target of adding 30,000 freshers for the year, but given the larger macroeconomic climate, the company has delayed onboarding freshers by several months. The company added 22,000 freshers for the year.

The company reported $2.82 bn in revenue for the fourth quarter, down by 0.6 percent in constant currency terms. Its EBIT margins came in at 16.3 percent, which was in line with what was expected.

On a year-on-year basis, its profit fell marginally by 0.4 percent to Rs 3,074.50 crore for the quarter ending March 2023.