Wipro ends Q3 with 4,473 fewer employees, headcount drops fifth quarter in a row

Wipro

Bengaluru-based IT major Wipro's headcount declined for the fifth consecutive quarter, as it ended the December quarter with 4,473 fewer employees than in the previous quarter.

The company's headcount stands at 240,234, Wipro said while declaring its third quarter results on January 12.

Wipro started trimming its workforce in the third quarter of the last financial year after having added 577 employees in Q2FY23.

"We believe that we have enough capacity to grow, and as and when demand comes, we will continue to grow," said Saurabh Govil, chief human resources officer, Wipro. "Even now for certain skills, specific technology, we continue to hire."

Attrition at Wipro came in at 14.2 percent on a last-twelve-month basis, down from 15.5 percent in the preceding quarter.

When asked on hiring talent, Govil said, "We have a talent pool available within... and as demand comes and as we have requirements, we will first dip in here... so that's the way we will approach hiring."

Wipro has not been backfilling all attrition, especially if people are on the bench and aims to improve utilisation levels.

However, net utilisation, excluding trainees, decreased this quarter from to 84 percent from 84.5 percent in the December quarter.

Govil said the marginal decrease in utilisation rate was because of the seasonal furloughs and holidays that employees availed. "But the trend is there and we believe that there is capacity... headspace for us to grow further."

Wipro reported a 12 percent year-on-year (YoY) fall in net profit at Rs 2,694 crore. This profit is in-line with Moneycontrol’s poll estimates of Rs 2,706 crore.

Consolidated revenue came in at Rs 22,205 crore, down 4.4 percent YoY, below analyst estimates of Rs 22,343 crore.