IT firms press pause on hiring

After a whirlwind expansion, Indian IT services firms are hitting the pause button. 

Technology services companies are moving to tighten their belts as few are putting a freeze on hiring and letting go of non-revenue generating people as five of the country’s ten largest information technology services companies reported a sequential decline in the sales and support staff in the quarter ended 30 September.

The country’s fourth and fifth largest IT services firms, Wipro Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd reported a sequential decline in the number of sales and support staff and software engineers, respectively, in the July-September period. 

L&T Technology Services Ltd, the smallest of the three IT companies under L&T, the engineering and construction conglomerate and Hyderabad-based Cyient Ltd also ended with fewer people in the sales in the latest quarter. Zensar Ltd, the tenth largest IT company, reported a sequential reduction in its workforce. 

This is the first sequential decline in headcount at any large IT company since the April-June period of 2020. 

IT services companies went on a hiring spree during the pandemic as business shifted online. Beginning July 2020 and until the end of September 2022, the ten largest IT firms added nearly a third of their current workforce or half a million people, according to an analysis by Mint.

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