TATA Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd jointly employ more than 1.5 million employees as of March 2025. Lower business due to demand uncertainty means salary hiking may be delayed or lower than previous fiscal.
Mumbai-based TCS paid a rate hike around April to July, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.
“About wage hiking, given the uncertain business environment, we will decide in a year when we will achieve this,” TCS Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad said during the post-tribute news interaction on April 10, during the company’s post-tribute news interaction.
Wipro responded to similar comments. Its management said it will take into account hiking in late September. “In an uncertain environment, we will decide to get closer to the date,” Govil said.
Read Also | Infosys Back to Campus Hire Jobs for Niches
Meanwhile, Noida-based HCLTECH said its wage rate hike cycle will begin in October 2025, consistent with last year.
TCS is the first to launch wage increases for IT services companies, with a growth rate of 4.5-7% between April and June 2024 and Bangalore-based Wipro has been allocated 4-8% since September last year.
Like its peers, Tech Mahindra’s annual wage increase was delayed for the second year as software service providers hope to cope with low demand and operating margins last year. The company conducted hiking between January and March 2025.
Infosys and HCL Tech branched twice. Although some Infosys executives conducted hiking earlier this month, HCL Tech completed the company’s management on its second hike from January to March 2025.
As companies hope to increase profitability, uncertainty in hiking emerges. Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra last increased their operating profit by 40 basis points, 10 basis points, 100 bps and 360 BPS. A basis point is a percentage point of one percentage point. TCS’s profit margin fell by 30 barrels per year.
TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra ended the fiscal year 25 with revenue of $30.18 billion, $19.28 billion, $13.84 billion, $13.84 billion, $100.1 billion and $6.26 billion.
Read this | Visa Delays Propel Indian Companies Hire Local Americans
“There is a lot of shock and uncertainty in the market,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder of Everest Group, a Dallas-based technology research firm. He added: “While there is a clear suppression of demand after two years of slowdown, tariff-driven uncertainty is causing customers in many industries to postpone important projects until the direction of economic travel is determined. This has led service providers to take a defensive stance about talent and act cautiously.”
Although only Infosys set goals for that year, the company was slightly positive about the recruitment. However, even for companies that promise to increase recruitment, the plan seems tentative.
Infosys, the second largest IT company, said it hopes to hire 20,000 employees in fiscal 26. TCS said it will employ similar numbers or higher to the 42,000 trainees that were onboarded in FY25, while HCL Tech will increase entry-level recruitment this year, starting in 7,829 last year.
“We will be building plans on a quarter of the time. We are not going to define annual plans. In the current climate, it is much more cautious to develop plans every quarter,” HCL Tech’s chief human resources officer added ARKERIAD HIR at the Alt-Arnings Press conference on April 22, which will hir to Company Andiles Anyve Aship Assone Assone Assone Aregress Ankory Ankory Ankles Ankilly of Formant on April 22.
The smaller companion Wipro is also engaging with caution when hiring.
Read Also | Captive Questions: Why Cognitive Convenes the Risks of the GCC
“We will have to look at the growth perspective in this program, especially from the campus,” said Saurabh Govil, chief human resources management officer at Wipro.
Goville added: “But we are also very aware that we shouldn’t do anything that is getting on the people without deploying. The company added about 10,000 freshmen in fiscal 25.
The fifth largest company, Tech Mahindra, also avoided giving hiring targets, adding that the company would hire based on the visibility of demand, which he said was “muddy.” The company added 6,100 campus recruits last time.
Fresh recruitment or new recruitment is an indicator of market demand. More recruitment signals demand more IT services and vice versa.
Another uncertainty about recruitment comes from the AI generation.
And read | Bosses of the top three IT companies in India banner macroeconomic issues
“The execution model is expected to become less dependent on location dependency, mixing 50% of people and 50% of proxy solutions. It’s a step-by-step journey and is already keen on taking this approach.”
Four of the top five, including TC, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, added 722 employees and 6,433 employees. HCL Tech cuts its last financial pen for 4,061 employees.
