TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech among IT biggies looking to hire 40% less this fiscal

At present, the requirement for fresh hires is down by nearly 50 percent, as of August, compared to the previous year.

Large Indian IT and software services exporters are not betting on fresh recruitments as it is likely to fall by approximately 40 percent on-year in the current financial year, highlighting the subdued demand and slump in technology services that is making tough for the $245-billion industry, a report has said.

IT services majors are likely to roll out offers between 50,000 and 100,000 employees during fiscal 2024, the Economic Times reported, citing data from Bengaluru-based staffing firm Xpheno. This will mark a steep drop from the net hiring of over 250,000 by these companies in the previous year.

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Moneycontrol couldn't verify the report independently.

Top IT exporters — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra — seem to be facing hiring challenges as they reported a cumulative decline of 21,838 in net headcount in the first quarter of FY24, the report said.

India's No.1 software services exporter TCS just added around 500 employees, and the remaining four reported a sharp fall.\

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Further, global tech giants such as Accenture, Capgemini and Cognizant, which have a huge base of staff in India, reported a decline in headcount of more than 5,000 each during the most recent quarter.

“It looks like a washout year for IT services hiring. The dismal sentiment is expected to continue, with little or no indication of green shoots in the sector. This, coupled with a lack of visibility on rollout of new projects, is leading to companies withholding fresh mandates for hiring,” Sunil C, chief executive at TeamLease Digital, told the financial daily.

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He went on to add that there will be a further 40 percent decline in net recruitment by the sector in the current fiscal because entities are concentrating on increasing employee utilisation metrics.

At present, the requirement for fresh hires is down by nearly 50 percent, as of August, compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, this website, citing data from Xpheno, reported that there were just 1,400 open roles in India across the Big Tech companies — Facebook (Meta), Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and Google (Alphabet) — as of July 2023.