Indian IT companies are finally breaking their long-standing fresher pay ceiling. After years of entry-level salaries stuck near Rs 8 lakh, top firms like Infosys and HCLTech are now offering Rs 20 lakh-plus packages for select graduates with AI, data and deep-tech skills.
HCLTech has reworked its fresher compensation model. The company is offering Rs 18 lakh to Rs 22 lakh per annum to what it internally calls an “elite cadre” of engineers specialising in data and AI, digital engineering, cybersecurity and enterprise skills.
Speaking at the company’s December-quarter earnings call, HCLTech Chief People Officer Ram Sundararajan said: “Two quarters back, we did very proactively talk about the elite engineers. We had shared that our entry-level salaries will have the elite cadre earning 3X–4X of the regular hires anywhere between Rs 18 lakhs to 22 lakhs.”
Infosys also recently said that the entry-level compensation for specialised technology roles now goes up to Rs 21 lakh per annum. The company is launching off-campus hiring for 2025 engineering graduates, with roles such as Specialist Programmer and Digital Specialist Engineer offering packages ranging from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 21 lakh.
Only Few Qualify
Although industry experts said that only a small fraction of graduates qualify for these high-paying roles.
“Very few, only close to 1–2% of freshers qualify for salaries over 20 lakh,” Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital said. “Even within IITs and top engineering institutes, this applies to a very small subset.” She added that advanced AI, cloud and data roles face a 70–80% skill gap.
On similar lines, Roop Kaistha, Regional Managing Director, APAC at AMS, a talent acquisition company, said the Rs 20 lakh-plus packages typically apply to a single-digit percentage of campus hires in large IT services, and are tied to specialised technology roles rather than broad-based onboarding. Despite the premium packages being concentrated at top campuses, recruiters say opportunities will not narrow only to elite institutes.
“While premium offers remain concentrated in elite institutes, Tier-2 and Tier-3 colleges continue to be critical to India’s talent pipeline,” Sharma said, adding that the shift is less about college pedigree and more about skill proof. Kaistha echoed this view, saying premium packages will concentrate in premier institutes, but hiring will not become exclusive to them, as campus recruitment increasingly uses skills-led filters rather than college names alone.
Further, they said that volume hiring will continue at much lower salary levels. “While the IT services firms will continue volume fresher hiring at 4-6 lakh salary, a premium layer is emerging for AI-led and deep-tech work,” Sharma said, adding that only 1 in 10 GenAI roles currently finds a suitably qualified candidate, creating acute scarcity.
Kaistha described this as a two-track entry-level hiring model, with volume hiring for delivery/support roles alongside capability hiring for AI/cloud/cyber/data roles.
Infosys has hired 12,000 freshers in the first half of FY26 and is on track to meet its annual target of 20,000 hires.
Meanwhile, HCLTech added 2,852 freshers in the December quarter, taking total fresher additions for FY26 so far to 10,032, nearly two-thirds higher than the same period last year.