IT wellwethers TCS and Infosys have come out with upbeat numbers of freshers hired during the last fiscal as well as bullish hiring outlook for the current year, but high attrition rates continued to hound them.
India’s second largest IT firm Infosys saw a record high attrition rate of 27.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY22. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s biggest IT services player, also recorded a record attrition in the March quarter at 17.4 per cent.
Experts are of the view that a rapid digitisation in the wake of the pandemic has driven the demand for IT talents; and from early career IT professionals to mid and senior-level executives, the software tech space is brimming with job opportunities.
Unsurprisingly, many professionals are moving away from traditional IT companies to startups with faster growth opportunities, they said.
TCS MD and CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said that the attrition numbers are likely to get worse before they moderate.
On high attrition, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said that the initiatives the company has put in place such as employee engagement, career progression, compensation, and rotation of work are starting to have an impact.
As far as new hiring is concerned, buoyed by the increasing demand, the IT sector has grown significantly over the last 6 quarters in particular, despite the pandemic. With the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, Indian companies have been relying heavily on digitization and automation in order to sustain and overcome business challenges, pushing demand for new hiring across IT domains.
TCS and Infosys hired over 1,03,000 and 85,000 freshers, respectively in FY22.
Infosys said that the company is looking at hiring 50,000 freshers in FY23. In FY22, after the initial hiring outlook of 26,000, it stepped up the fresher hiring every quarter.
TCS also shared a bullish hiring sentiment. The company said it is starting the year with a hiring target of 40,000 and will step it up if need be during the year.
Both IT majors also witnessed dip in their margins. Infosys’ margins fell 21.6 percent. TCS too indicated near-term pressures on margins, but expects them to pick up thanks to better pricing.
