Q3 results: TCS, Infosys headcount fall continues; over 11,000 exit

The fall in headcount is a serious issue for the sector as well as for engineering graduates, as both these firms are the largest recruiters from campuses

India’s top two IT services companies Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys on Thursday reported a substantial dip of over 11,000 employees in their headcount base during the third quarter (October –December) of the current financial year, even as attrition rates dropped.
 

In the third quarter, TCS's headcount reduced to 5,680 sequentially, while Infosys reported its headcount shrunk by 6,101 respectively.
 

Infosys ended the December quarter with 322,663 employees, the fourth consecutive quarter in which the company ended with fewer employees. The two firms'combined headcount fell by 34,851 year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Similarly, TCS ended the third quarter with a 603,305 employee base. The attrition rate of Infosys stood at 12.9 per cent in Q3FY24, from the earlier quarter when it reported 14.6 per cent. Similarly, the attrition rate for TCS for this quarter stood at 13.3 per cent compared to 14.9 per cent in the previous quarter. Infosys said it has no immediate campus requirement for FY24.

TCS, on the other hand, announced it intends to hire 40,000 freshers from campuses during this financial year. The fall in headcount is a serious issue for the IT sector as well as for the engineering graduates as both these firms hire largely from the campuses. Milind Lakkad, the chief HR officer of TCS said: “Attrition is trending down and at 13.3 percent, is now in our range of comfort. We are committed to hiring from college campuses and growing talent organically. We have commenced our campus hiring process for the next year and see tremendous excitement among freshers to join TCS.”
 

When asked if getting the employees back office is a challenge back to the office Lakkad said: "Almost 65 per cent of employees are back in office." On the news that many are being forced to transfer, he added: "Mobility is part of the job and good for career growth."