Top Indian IT services giants Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro have bounced back from their historic headcount decline in two decades in FY24, adding approximately 13,553 employees in FY25.
In FY24, these companies collectively did not backfill attrition and shed 63,759 employees, reflecting a sector-wide trend of hiring slowdown amid low single-digit or even negative revenue growth.
As of FY25, TCS added 6,433 employees, Infosys added 6,388 employees, and Wipro’s headcount went up by 732, while earnings announcements of HCLTech and Tech Mahindra are awaited in the upcoming week.
On a sequential basis, TCS added 625 employees, Infosys added 199, and Wipro added 614 employees, respectively.
“We see very weak headcount addition, reflecting current macroeconomic challenges,” said Piyush Pandey, Lead Analyst-IT, Centrum Broking.
Fresher hiring
All three IT companies have indicated they will hire roughly the same number of freshers in FY25 as they did in the previous fiscal. This is significant, given the uncertain demand environment, driven by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war.
Moreover, campus hiring is often seen as a leading indicator for demand.
India's largest IT software exporter, TCS, said it would recruit around 42,000 freshers or a "little higher" in FY26. "We have onboarded 42,000 trainees in FY25 and FY26 number will be similar or little higher," said CHRO Milind Lakkad during the fourth quarter press conference.
TCS’ nearest rival, Infosys, said it would hire over 20,000 freshers in the current fiscal. The Bengaluru-based firm has already met its target of adding 15,000-20,000 freshers in FY25.
Nevertheless, the Salil Parekh-led company’s attrition increased both sequentially and year-on-year (YoY). The metric stood at 14.1 percent for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, up from last year’s 12.6 percent and the previous quarter’s 13.7 percent.
“Infosys must address its rising attrition rate as workload pressures increase, maintaining workforce stability is critical to preserving service quality and meeting delivery expectations—any challenges in this area could pose risks to its future growth trajectory,” Biswajit Maity, Sr Principal Analyst at Gartner, told Moneycontrol.
The country’s fourth-largest IT services exporter, Wipro, said it will onboard 10,000-12,000 freshers from campuses in FY26.
“There could be a quarter changes, but between 10,000-12,000 freshers would be onboarded every fiscal,” Wipro's Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil told the Press after declaring Q3FY25 results.
These developments come at a time when the company's headcount increased in FY25 after the metric declined for the first time in 19 years in FY24.
Wage Hikes
FY26 started on a cautious note, as managements across companies signalled delaying wage hike cycles led by the macroeconomic uncertainties due to Trump’s impending tariff implementations.
Among the three firms, Infosys was the exception, which said it has started rolling out wage hikes for the majority of the employees in January, while the remaining staff would get their increments starting from April 1.
TCS, meanwhile, said that it is deferring wage hikes this year and would roll them out "based on business environment."
"Because of the uncertain environment, we will decide during the year on wage hikes. It can be at anytime, depending on business," said Chief HR Officer Milind Lakkad at the post-Q4 results press conference in Mumbai.
Wipro will be deciding on its wage hikes for FY26 “closer to the date.”
“We are still very far from that time, and in this uncertain environment, we will decide closer to the date,” Chief Human Resource Officer Saurabh Govil said.
He added that Wipro gave wage hikes ahead of time in September last year. And that was done within a year of rolling out wage hikes in December 2023.
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