MC EXCLUSIVE Infosys doubles down on hiring as TCS cuts staff; CEO Salil Parekh sees rising demand for data, cloud and AI

He further said that Infosys is benefiting from the consolidation decisions that clients are making.

Software major Infosys is ramping up hiring this year, having added 17,000 employees in the first quarter, with plans to recruit 20,000 fresh graduates this fiscal, CEO Salil Parekh told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

The company’s bullish stance on growth, driven by increased corporate spending on artificial intelligence and cloud computing, stands in stark contrast to rival Tata Consultancy Services, which recently announced a 2 percent workforce reduction amid a gap in skilling and technology shift.

Parekh said Infosys’s strong utilisation rates and strategic investments in AI position the firm for continued expansion as clients accelerate digital transformation initiatives.

“For this financial year, we have a plan to recruit 20,000 college graduates; that plan remains the way it was. We see a continued focus on growth, a good level of utilisation, see college graduates coming and doing training, getting deployed and lot of reskilling in AI,” Parekh said in an interview on 30th July at the Infosys campus in Bengaluru.

Parekh’s comments come days after Moneycontrol first reported on its larger rival TCS’s plans to cut 2 percent of its workforce, impacting over 12,000 employees globally, in what is one of the largest layoffs in Indian corporate history. These job cuts are mostly aimed at the middle and senior layers.

When asked if he also sees a flab in the middle management, Parekh said. “We have a very strong team, very good utilisation level and approach.”

Infosys recently revised its full-year revenue growth guidance for FY26, increasing its lower end to 1-3 percent growth in constant currency (CC). In the previous quarter, the company had set its growth guidance at 0-3 percent for FY26. As of Q1FY26, Infosys has retained its operating margin guidance at 20-22 percent.

“So overall while the economic growth outlook if you look from when we were there in April to now there were some changes, as this environment starts to become more understood we will see more ability for companies to start spends on large technology programs,” Parekh said that adding that he is seeing a lot of interest in fundamental blocks like cloud and data.

He further said that Infosys is benefiting from the consolidation decisions that clients are making.