IT Industry is seeing Business Growth and demand for workforce ramp up

Bengaluru: Two out of the four top IT firms in India have seen a net addition in the headcount in the June quarter of 2024-25. This comes after multiple quarters of reduction in headcount for all of these firms. TCS had a net addition to the employee count last in the first quarter of FY24, after which for three straight quarters, the firm reported a drop.

Even in the June quarter of FY25, a meagre 523 employees were added by India’s biggest IT services firm. The net addition was a result of an increased utilisation of last year’s recruits, the company said in its analyst call after the Q1FY25 earnings.

Infosys has had five straight quarters of headcount reduction, including in the June quarter of FY25, while Wipro has finally reported a net addition after reporting a decline during the entire 2023-24 fiscal year.

HCL has been reporting additions and declines intermittently in the last five quarters. Analysts say IT demand is still to fully recover, but there are green shoots to which companies are having to cater to. “To address this, companies are adopting various strategies: some are slowing down hiring, others are focusing on reskilling or upskilling their existing employees, and some are balancing the hiring of freshers with laterals,” Biswajit Maity, senior principal analyst at Gartner, says.

Pareekh Jain, CEO and lead analyst at Pareekh Consulting, says an addition to the total headcount is a reflection of IT firms preparing for a recovery in demand.

Despite forecasting uncertainties in the demand environment, IT firms have announced clear plans of hiring freshers. They have also stated that they will complete onboarding of all freshers who were hired in the last couple of years. Kapil Joshi, deputy CEO of IT staffing at Quess Corp, said that fresher hiring will boost the net headcount.

TCS has said it will add 40,000 freshers this year, while Infosys has given an estimate of 20,000 freshers from campus and through the off-campus route. Wipro has said it will bring onboard 10,000 to 12,000 freshers this year and go to campuses to hire the same number for next year. Pareekh Jain says even those who haven’t added to their net employee count will do so next quarter as companies prepare for growth, with certain clients and segments beginning to spend on m technology advancements.

Source: GWFM Research & Study