BENGALURU: The country's top 5 IT firms have cumulatively added 11,278 employees in financial year 2025 (FY25) compared to a net reduction of over 69,000 employees in the last fiscal. The top two firms- TCS and Infosys alone have added 6,433 and 6,338 employees, respectively. While HCLTech and Wipro saw a decline of 4,061 and 708 employees in FY25, Tech Mahindra added 3,276 employees in FY25.
In FY24, TCS, Infosys and Wipro together saw a decline of 63,759 employees. HCLTech alone added 1,537 employees in FY24 and Tech Mahindra saw a reduction of 6,945 employees.
“Despite ongoing global uncertainties, FY25 has marked a recovery phase for major Indian IT firms, following the historic headcount decline of FY24. However, hiring remained measured in Q4, reflecting continued caution in client spending and persistent macroeconomic headwinds. Attrition rates have stabilized across the industry at an average of 13–15%, indicating a more balanced yet evolving talent landscape," said Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services.
While some IT majors have deferred wage hikes this year due to pricing pressures and shifting client priorities, hiring in niche and emerging tech domains remains active, both in India and globally. Several firms have also announced plans to on-board over 10,000 freshers in FY26—signalling long-term confidence despite short-term challenges, he added.
As far as fresher hiring is concerned, TCS onboarded 42,000 trainees in FY25 and this financial year will also see similar numbers or a little higher. Infosys said it will hire over 20,000 freshers in FY26. In FY25, Wipro onboarded about 10,000 freshers and the company did not specify hiring guidance in the current fiscal.
Ramachandran Sundararajan, Chief People Officer, HCLTech, said fresher hiring will be made on a quarter-on-quarter basis and that it will hire 2,000 to 3,000 freshers every quarter in FY26.
Sunil Nehra, CEO - IT Staffing, FirstMeridian Business Services said investments towards AI/ML, cloud computing, data engineering, automation etc. have been steady which signal a long-term confidence in emerging technologies. "This steady demand for new age technologies has influenced hiring trends. As it is estimated that the IT hiring industry will grow by 7-10% in the first half of 2025, i.e. 4-4.5 lakh new jobs, hiring in multiple regions of India will experience a gradual upward momentum," he said.
He added that the sentiment on fresher hiring in FY26 remains positive which indicates strong demand for entry level roles.
"With India’s young talent showing impressive niche skill sets in emerging technologies, companies are turning towards investing in upskilling programs which bridge the gap between specialised skills and building a robust pipeline of talent for future growth. With IT hiring, the focus has transformed to creating high-impact and resilient teams who can work in tandem with the demands of the industry," he added.