TCS, Infosys, Wipro: Employee headcount down 51,744 in H1 FY24

India’s top IT companies have witnessed their workforce shrink in HY1 2023-24. As per the numbers shared during the Q2 FY 2023-24 results, the 10 largest companies saw their workforce fall to 20.6 lakh people at the end of September from 21.1 lakh employees at the beginning of the fiscal year, resulting in a loss of 51,744 jobs.

Historical data of employee numbers from data aggregator platform Statista shows that the the employee headcount of the top nine IT firms— including Tata Consultancy Services,  Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Mphasis, Persistent Systems, and LTIMindtree (erstwhile LTI and Mindtree)-- has witnessed a collective drop for the first time in over 25 years.

As per the quarterly reports of major IT players in India, their headcount peaked in FY 2021-23. The headcount of TCS (6,16,171), Wipro (2,62,626), Tech Mahindra (1,63,912), and LTIMindtree (86,936) peaked in September 2022. For Cognizant (3,55,300) and Infosys (3,46,845), the headcount peaked in December 2022. For HCLTech (2,25,944) and Persistent Systems (22,889), the employee headcount peaked in March 2023. And for Mphasis (36,899), the headcount peaked in June 2022.

The employee headcount has dipped across the board for major IT player in HY1 FY 24. The headcount of as of Q2 FY24 are as follows– TCS (6,06,985), Wipro (2,44,707), Tech Mahindra (1,50,604), LTIMindtree (85,532), Cognizant (3,45,600), Infosys (3,28,764), HCLTech (2,21,139), Persistent Systems (22,842), and Mphasis (33,771).

In the Q2 FY 24 earnings announcements, IT players also announced that they would reduce hiring in the upcoming quarters. Infosys CFO Nilanjan Roy noted that the company would skip campus hiring in the fiscal. “As we see it, it is not likely that we will go to campuses for hiring this year. But will have to watch the situation every quarter,” he said. 

Wipro CHRO Saurabh Govil noted that the company would first hire all employees awaiting onboarding before going on recruitment drives. He said, “Before new hirings, we will make sure we honour every offer letter we have made. There are still some people left to be onboarded and we will be doing that as we move forward. That's our intent, and we will be adding people awaiting onboarding in the upcoming quarters.”

Newly appointed TCS CEO K Krithivasan explained that the demand environment for the IT sector is weak. He said after Q2 FY 24 results announcements, “IT industry growth has moderated and till there’s a certainty on the global economic outlook this moderation will continue because many of the customers will try to conserve cash for a difficult period ahead, if they expect a difficult period. Once that certainty comes in you’d see growth also. So whether it’s going to be difficult for IT companies specifically is a function of the war or global economic situation.”