Tears running down her cheeks, a female trainee from Madhya Pradesh pleaded with Infosys officials on February 7, "Please let me stay the night. I will leave tomorrow. Where will I go right now," after she was asked to vacate the Mysuru campus immediately , according to another trainee who, too, was fired by the IT services giant.
The two were among the around 400 trainees let go by Infosys on that day after failing evaluation tests three times in a row.
"We don’t know. You are no longer part of the company. Vacate the premises by 6 pm," was the response from an Infosys official, as claimed by the trainee.
Hundreds of trainees scrambled to find taxis and buses to head back to their hometowns. Many had joined Infosys nearly two and a half years after graduating, only to be terminated just months later. Fear and uncertainty loomed as they grappled with how to break the news to their parents on returning home.
Freaky Friday
Early morning on February 7, batches of about 50 trainees were called in with their laptops for a discussion, starting at 9.30 am. They were huddling inside a room guarded by security outside and bouncers inside.
“You are required to maintain confidentiality, hence please do not discuss this, or share this calendar invite with anyone,” read a mail sent to the affected trainees a day earlier.
The trainee mentioned above said Finacle (Infosys’ digital banking platform) employees were on campus and so were a few US clients. “Therefore, buses were used as shields to cover the area where we were being called and terminated one by one. We were escorted out in a way so as to not catch their attention,” the trainee said.
“This is cruelty, it is a big company, trainees fear speaking the truth,” another trainee who was asked to leave told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
Infosys, in a statement, said: “At Infosys, we have a rigorous hiring process where all freshers, after undergoing extensive foundational training at our Mysuru campus, are expected to clear internal assessments. All freshers get three attempts to clear the assessment, failing which they will not be able to continue with the organisation, as is also mentioned in their contract. This process has been in existence for over two decades and ensures a high quality of talent availability for our clients.”
Trainees, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, alleged that the company made the eligibility criteria very stringent for the 2024 batch.
Fears still loom
They alleged that trainers had warned them beforehand that the exam would be designed in such a manner that a significant number of trainees would struggle to pass.
The fear still looms that about 4,500 trainees, who are still undergoing training, might meet a similar fate, sources said.
On February 14, about 450 trainees from the October 21 batch, selected mostly for system engineer roles, will sit their third attempt. It remains to be seen how many clear the exam and how many are terminated.
Evaluation, Passing Criteria
The evaluation and passing criteria for trainees is divided into different focus areas, with benchmarks that must be met to merit a completion.
For the “technology stream” trainees are required to achieve a minimum of 50 percent in each focus area, internal documents accessed by Moneycontrol showed. However, just clearing individual focus areas is not enough; an overall average score of at least 65 percent across all focus areas in the “technology stream” is mandatory.
A flashback: 2022
Over the past two and a half years, the freshers training programme has undergone drastic changes allege trainees.
In 2022, the process was more structured and provided enough time for learning. Cut to 2024, the syllabus has been majorly expanded and the completion time drastically reduced, making it nearly impossible for trainees to fulfill the required assessment.
In 2022, freshers had to go through two main testing phases — generic and technology stream. The generic phase itself had two assessments: FA1, which is Java, and FA2, which is Database Management System (DBMS). FA1 involved only one coding problem and some multiple-choice questions (MCQs), while FA2 required running just four queries in DBMS.
The passing criteria across was overall 50 percent.
There was no time limit for attempting the generic test — candidates could take it at any point within their six-month training period.
Even if someone failed the generic phase, they were still allowed to move on to the technology stream phase and continue their learning, sources said.
In many cases, trainees who failed were still promoted to meet company hiring demands.
2024, a whole new ball game
Fast forward to 2024, and the entire system was overhauled, making it much more challenging at a time when the IT industry was grappling with a challenging demand environment.
India’s second-largest software exporter sent offer letters back in 2022 but did not on-board the candidates after the company faced a slump. The delay, however, was an industry-wide issue. Fears of a looming recession in IT companies' major markets and the absence of discretionary spending led companies to pause hiring, leading to a multi-decadal decline in headcount.
IT companies, including Infosys, have since been slow on hiring. They gradually started hiring as the demand environment seem to turning around after almost one and a half years.
The structure remains the same — generic and stream phases — but the syllabus and passing criteria have changed dramatically, above sources rued.
In the generic phase, the two tests have been renamed as F1 (Java) and FA2 (DBMS).
F1 (Java) now covers Data Structures, Object-Oriented Programming, and Programming Fundamentals. Instead of just one coding problem, candidates now face three coding challenges— one each for Data Structures, Programming Fundamentals, and OOPS. Additionally, MCQs are included.
Each section also now requires a minimum of 65 percent to pass instead of a 50 percent average.
FA2, or DBMS, now requires candidates to run eight queries instead of four, further increasing the difficulty.
The syllabus for Programming Fundamentals is now around 120 hours long, while Data Structures is about 40 hours. The total syllabus requires 200 hours of study.
However, candidates are expected to study from 9.15 am to 5.45 pm in training, and to cover the syllabus, they would need an extra eight hours of self-study a day, which is practically impossible.
Similarly, DBMS training has been reduced to just 10 days despite requiring 100 hours of study.
The Impact
These sudden and excessive changes have resulted in a drastic increase in failure rates.
Of the 930 trainees that joined on October 7, around 160 passed in the first attempt and over 140 in the second.
Over 630 students failed by January 1, 2025 due to the increased syllabus and reduced time.
Previously, freshers were given up to three attempts for the generic phase and could still proceed to the stream phase. Now, trainees must clear generic first before moving to the stream phase.
Earlier termination rates were under 10 percent but now they have risen to 30-40 percent.
Unfair syllabus overlap
A major concern is that the same syllabus is being taught for different roles with vast salary differences, sources said.
System engineers, who earn about Rs 20,000 a month, are now studying the same syllabus as specialist programmers, who earn approximately Rs 70,000.
Previously, hiring exams were designed as per job roles — system engineer papers were simpler, as it was a support role. Now, they are forced to take the same difficult tests as high-paying specialist programmers, they said.
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