Top five Indian IT services companies – TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra – will be hiring a record nearly 1.8 lakh freshers this fiscal, as enterprises across the world move to digital.
The companies hired over 80,000 freshers in the same period last year. This momentum is likely to continue in the next year as well.
This step-up in hiring comes on the back of increasing attrition rate in these companies, as they compete to hire candidates from the limited talent pool available in the market. Over 2 lakh people the five companies added between January and December 2021 in part reflect the war for talent the industry is witnessing.
For the year ended December 2021, the five IT companies added close to 2.3 lakh employees, multifold increase from the close to 35,000 net employee addition in FY21 by the companies.
There are two major reasons for the increase in hiring.
One, demand continues to be high and the IT firms have not reported a decline in deal signings despite the absence of mega deals (over $500 million in value). This is what is giving the companies confidence to end the year on double-digit growth.
For instance, Infosys has raised its revenue guidance for the third time to 19.5-20 percent. It had started the year with a guidance of 12-14 percent. TCS and HCL Tech did not share revenue guidance, but are confident about double-digit growth. Wipro is expected to end the year with a 27-28 percent growth on a year-on-year basis.
The other major reason is attrition. TCS and HCL Tech reported an attrition rate of 15.3 percent and 19.8 percent for the quarter ended December. Attrition rate for Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra stood over 20 percent at 25.5 percent, 22.7 percent and 24 percent, respectively, during the quarter.
All these are resulting in increased fresher hiring by the IT firms.
Thierry Delaporte, CEO, Wipro, said during the earnings call last month that while attrition at 22.7 percent is lower than anticipated, the company is building its talent pipeline to cater to the demand by increasing its fresher supply. The company plans to hire 30,000 freshers in FY23.
CP Gurnani, CEO and MD, said in an earnings call with the media on February 1 that to contain attrition the company is engaging with employees better, and have broad-based delivery centres in India and overseas. “We have added more manpower in areas such as Vizag, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar and Nagpur, thanks to the technology, and work from anywhere,” he said.
The company is also increasing campus recruits to 15,000 in FY23, from 10,000 this fiscal. Tech Mahindra has also strengthened its upskilling programme for its employees.
TCS has promoted 1.1 lakh people so far this year and has planned 40,000 more promotions in Q4 FY22. Infosys said that the company is engaging with employees.
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