BENGALURU: It’s been two years since Krishna (name changed) from Telangana received an offer letter from Infosys for ‘System Engineer’ position with a package of Rs 3.6 lakh per annum. He was in his final year of engineering and got a selection letter from the company in April 2022.
He received an offer letter in December 2022 saying he could join Infosys Mysore campus from February 2023. “Again, I received an email saying that they have extended my joining month to May 2023. I believed that I would be joining Infosys and rejected two other offers that I received from other companies. Till now I did not get any clarification from Infosys. Whenever I mail, I receive a system generated mail saying that I would be onboarded based on business requirement. I am still unemployed,” he said.
Over 2,000 campus recruits are waiting to be onboarded, according to Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES). It has urged the Ministry of Labour and Employment to investigate Infosys for repeatedly delaying the onboarding.
“These delays, which have persisted for more than two years, have caused significant hardship for the affected employees. Many had turned down other job offers in good faith, relying on Infosys’s offer letters. Now, they face financial hardship and uncertainty due to the lack of income and a clear onboarding timeline,” said Harpreet Singh Saluja, President, NITES.
An email sent to Infosys did not elicit any response. However, in the company’s annual report, CEO Salil Parekh has mentioned that the company has recruited nearly 11,900 college graduates in 2023-2024. This is a 76% drop compared to the previous year as the company hired about 50,000 freshers in FY23.
Saubhik Bhattacharya, General Secretary, All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union, told this newspaper that when a student is hired from campus, the university or college disallows him/her from participating in sequential recruitment drives. “Making these fresh candidates wait for more than a year to get a joining date, makes their lives miserable.”
"In November 2023, we received a complaint. A bunch of students were hired by Wipro from a university in Noida. After waiting for almost 1 year, only a handful of students received the joining letter while others were not hired," Bhattacharya said.
When asked Wipro, it said in a statement, "Wipro is focussed on onboarding next gen associates based on business needs throughout the year."
IT companies are not honouring job offers and delaying onboarding campus hires due to a combination of economic, strategic, and operational factors, said Puneet Arora, Managing Partner, Biz Staffing Comrade Pvt Ltd.
"Economic uncertainty, including global downturns and inflation, prompts companies to manage costs and mitigate risks. Strategic adjustments, such as shifting project priorities and reallocating resources, can reduce the need for new hires. Market conditions with fluctuating demand for IT services also impact hiring plans," he said.
