Net Hiring In India's Top Four IT Firms Drops By 97% To 1,940 In Q3FY23

Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys and HCL Tech— reported a combined net addition of 1,940 employees in the quarter ended December 2022, the Economic Times reported.

This is the lowest in the past 11 quarters. The slowdown in demand for technology services can be attributed to rising macroeconomic uncertainty around the globe and geopolitical concerns.

These big four IT firms recorded a net addition of 61,137 employees in the third quarter of FY22. In contrast, with the present circumstances, these companies fiercely competed with each other in hiring to meet the increased demand for digitisation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decline is a sharp drop of nearly 97 per cent from Q3FY22 and a 94 per cent drop from the net addition of 28,836 in the Q2FY23.

This latest drop, which comes after a rise in net hiring among top four IT firms over the last 11 quarters, reflects macro technology trends at play, the report quoted Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno — a specialist staffing company, as saying.

By the end of December 2022, TCS saw its overall headcount drop by 2,197 employees. While in Bengaluru, Wipro saw a drop of 435 in the same period.

The IT companies witnessed a big drop in attrition in the quarter, which is generally a weak period for IT hiring.

The hiring firms are of the view that this slowdown, which began nearly six months ago, will further expand in the upcoming months. Uncertain geopolitical scenarios, impending recession and cost conservation by companies are being seen as a major reason behind this slowdown.