IT workforce shrinks: TCS and Infosys witness significant Q3 headcount decline

In the third quarter of the current fiscal year, both Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, the leading IT services giants in India, witnessed a substantial decline in their employee headcounts. Business Standard reported that TCS experienced a sequential reduction of 5,680 employees, while Infosys saw a decrease of 6,101 during the same period. 

Infosys closed the December quarter with 322,663 employees, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of a declining workforce. Collectively, Infosys and TCS observed a year-on-year reduction of 34,851 employees. TCS, with a current workforce of 603,305, expressed its commitment to hiring 40,000 freshers from campuses in the ongoing fiscal year.

While Infosys reported a lowered attrition rate of 12.9% in Q3FY24, down from the previous quarter's 14.6%, TCS similarly experienced a reduced attrition rate of 13.3% compared to 14.9% in the previous quarter. The decline in headcount has raised concerns within the IT sector, particularly impacting engineering graduates, as both companies traditionally heavily recruit from campuses.

Milind Lakkad, TCS's Chief HR Officer, reassured that attrition is trending down and is now within their range of comfort at 13.3%. In response to challenges about employees returning to the office, Lakkad stated, "Almost 65 per cent of employees have returned to the office," addressing concerns about employee relocations by emphasizing that mobility is inherent to the job and contributes to career growth.

While TCS actively pursues campus hiring to counterbalance the headcount decline, Infosys, for the time being, has not indicated an immediate need for campus recruitment in FY24. 

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