AI, enterprise demand underpin high staff deployment at Infosys: CEO Salil Parekh

Infosys utilisation levels are high, supported by the growing market for artificial intelligence (AI), among other factors, said the software major’s chief executive, Salil Parekh.

“Our utilisation is running at a good level. All of the people that are joining us, are getting trained and deployed on projects. And the people across the whole company are at that high utilisation,” the top executive said in an interview with CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday.

As new work comes in with the rising popularity of AI, Infosys is seeing an “overall expansion in the addressable market”, Parekh said.

“To do AI well for large companies, there are two big foundational elements—one is data, and one is cloud. Both of those are areas where we [Infosys] have tremendous strength,” the Infosys CEO stated. “On AI, we see two different components. One is the growth element… data, cloud, which are supporting. And then AI itself, where we see some new type of work [coming in]. The second is where we see productivity, which comes from AI, which gives us more efficiency in doing the work we were doing in the past.”

“There is good activity from clients on enterprise solutions. Those solutions where we have very strong skills, we see quite a strong demand. And [as] those continue to roll out, we see good recruitment, good utilisation,” Parekh mentioned.

Meanwhile, a lot of clients are selecting Infosys in their consolidation decisions, he added.

“When we put all of that together, we see that the reskilling that we have started with AI…is helping us in making sure that our people are getting deployed at a high utilisation level,” the Infosys top executive said.

Infosys hiring plans on track

Adding 8,000 more employees during the 12 months to June 30, 2025, the information technology (IT) bellwether has improved its revenue efficiency per employee, the Infosys CEO emphasised.

Infosys will shape its recruitment plans for the current fiscal year to meet the revenue guidance for the period, the Infosys CEO said.

The second-largest Indian software exporter had tightened its revenue guidance range for the fiscal year ending March 2026 to 1–3%, from 0–3% earlier, signalling more clarity on topline visibility. Its net addition to the workforce during the April-June quarter stood at 210.

Parekh reiterated Infosys’ target of hiring 20,000 freshers during FY26, which was set at the end of the previous fiscal year. The company onboarded 17,000 freshers and lateral hires in the June quarter itself, Parekh said.

IT job cut fears

Parekh’s confidence contradicts the wider job security concerns in the Indian IT industry after the largest player in the space, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said it will cut 2% of its global workforce, or more than 12,000 employees.

The massive layoffs are on account of a skills mismatch, TCS CEO K Krithivasan stated, and not due to artificial intelligence (AI) replacing employees.

Brokerage firm Jefferies said job cuts at the Tata subsidiary may be a “canary in the coal mine” moment for IT services. “TCS’ move to cut 2% of its workforce may lead to execution slippages in the near term and higher attrition in the longer run for the firm and reflects a weak demand environment for the sector,” it said in a recent report.

IT industry body Nasscom also warned of some level of “workforce rationalisation” in the near term. The cuts are due to the pivot toward product-aligned delivery models and the rising demand from global clients for greater agility, speed, and innovation, it said on Tuesday.

Nasscom said that the technology sector is undergoing a structural transformation as AI and automation become central to business operations, with implications for both service delivery and workforce models. “Traditional skill sets are being re-evaluated, and this may lead to some transitions.”

Source: GWFM Research & Study