Pace of Workforce Growth at IT Majors on Slow Track

BENGALURU: The Indian IT services industry is not out of the woods yet, if job creation is any indication.

Consider this. If the country’s top three software firms - TCS, Infosys, Wipro - saw their collective employee base rise by a healthy 31 per cent in pre-recession FY08, the pace of growth contracted to 10 per cent in FY15. The year before was even worse, when the trioka’s workforce was up a mere 4.8 %. For an industry that’s known as a ‘corporate sweatshop’ and hires in hordes, induction of just 27,800 employees by the top three in FY14 down from 67,500 in FY108 indicates the slack in business.

FY14 was particularly downbeat for Wipro, whose employee base grew a molasses-like 0.16%, adding just 241 professionals in 12 months, much lower than its 1,505 new hires during the recession-hit FY09. On the other hand, TCS had put up a brave 10 per cent growth adding 76,196 employees, while Infy managed to get 3,737 associates on board. The sector employed over 35 lakh as on March, 2015.

Though there are hundreds of other IT firms, the top three player’s pace of growth is a valuable indicator, as they employ 6.7 lakh or 19% of the industry’s workforce. Homegrown HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra, and MNCs - who don’t share their numbers - Accenture, IBM, Cognizant and Capgemini make up for the rest of the large employers pack. Kunal Sen, Senior Vice-President, TeamLease believes the top-tier IT services have begun to rationalise their bench strength (paid employees, but with no work). “They have begun to offload the bench to staffing companies like TeamLease,” he said.