Cognizant to roll out pay hikes for 80% of eligible staff from November 1

Cognizant

Information technology firm Cognizant will award salary hikes to around 80 percent of its eligible employees effective November 1, ending months of uncertainty over its increment cycle.

The move aligns with the company’s guidance during its second-quarter earnings that the vast majority of staff would receive merit-based hikes in the second half of the year.

The hikes will apply to employees up to and including the senior associate level, with the quantum depending on performance rating and country.

In India, consistent top performers will see increases in the high single digits. “Top performers will receive the highest increases,” a company spokesperson said, adding that earlier this year, most associates received their highest bonuses in three years.

Cognizant usually starts its increment season from August 1, but delayed the decision this year amid global macroeconomic headwinds, including US President Donald Trump’s tariff actions that have added uncertainty to client tech budgets. This is in line with most of Cognizant’s peers, who have yet to roll out hikes, except for TCS.

A 25 percent tariff on Indian goods came into effect from August 7, and a penalty of an equal amount, announced a day earlier by Trump, will kick in from August 27 for buying Russian oil and arms.

The Teaneck-headquartered IT services firm added around 7,500 employees in the June quarter, taking its total headcount to 343,800, with attrition falling to 15.2 percent on a last-12-month basis.

It plans to hire 15,000–20,000 freshers in 2025. CEO Ravi Kumar S said this was one of the first quarters with significant headcount growth, driven largely by fresher hiring in India.