HCL Tech to suspend wage hikes for FY21 due to COVID-19, hiring to continue

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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HCL Technologies is suspending wage hikes for FY21 on the back of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Speaking to Moneycontrol after the Q1 result announcement, Agarwal said the company has decided to suspend wage hikes for the year due to the pandemic. “We hired 2,000 laterals and on-boarded 1,000 freshers in Q1. We will continue to hire in coming quarters based on need and also attrition,” he added.

HCL Tech joins its peers Infosys and Wipro in suspending wage hikes for FY21 due to the pandemic. Like its peers, it has continued to hire laterals and started on-boarding freshers for FY21.

Infosys hired close to 5,000 laterals for Q1 and will on-board 20,000 freshers in F21. Wipro hired 7,000 laterals and will on-board freshers from Q2.

VV Apparao, Chief Human Resources Officer, said the company typically hires 3,500-4,000 laterals per quarter. “This number depends on growth and attrition since lateral hires replace those who leave,” he explained.

With attrition falling, the number of those hired are likely to reduce as well, he added.

For the quarter-ending June, attrition stood at 14.6 percent compared to 16.3 percent in the preceding quarter. Total employee count stood at 150,287, down by close to 200 compared to the March quarter.

In terms of fresher hiring, the company had handed out 15,000 offers for freshers. Close to 1,000 were on-boarded in Q1 and the rest will be on-boarded through the year.

With regards to the H-1B issue, Agarwal said the company does not see the US H-1B ban impacting them in short-term. “I don’t think there will be a long term impact as a lot of it is coming from elections in November. These are knee-jerk reactions,” he added.

The company currently has close to 68 percent locals in the US. The company had reduced its H-1B dependency to 2,781 in FY19 from 5000 visa in FY17 by stepping up localisation.

The IT services company reported a 7.3 percent quarter-on-quarter fall in its June quarter net profit at Rs 2,925 crore.