The headcount at Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s two leading IT services companies, continued to shrink in the third quarter of the fiscal year, even as attrition rates showed signs of moderation.
TCS experienced a reduction of 5,680 employees in the October-December period, bringing its total headcount to 6,03,305. Over the nine months ending December 31, TCS witnessed a net decline of 11,490 employees, despite a notable decrease in voluntary attrition from 20.1% at the end of fiscal 2023 to 13.3% on a trailing 12-month basis.
Similarly, Infosys reported a net reduction of 6,101 employees in the quarter ended December 31, marking the third consecutive quarter of decline. The total headcount at Infosys now stands at 3,22,663. Notably, Infosys skipped campus hiring this year, and TCS adhered to its target of onboarding only 40,000 freshers in fiscal 2024.
The ongoing trend raises concerns for engineering graduates, particularly as fresher hiring in the IT outsourcing industry is expected to halve in the current fiscal year. This shift comes as a departure from the industry’s historical practice of hiring freshers in large volumes and investing in their training. However, in FY24, the focus appears to be on upskilling the existing workforce while significantly reducing new talent recruitment.
