Pressure on operating margins may have forced Cognizant to defer pay hikes

The move, for the second consecutive year, comes even as the company said last month that its outlook for the healthcare and financial services business had improved for this financial year

Cognizant Technology Solutions’ decision to defer salary hikes for its employees until August is largely due to the company’s tepid organic revenue growth and pressure on operating margins in a demand environment that remains uncertain despite green shoots in some business verticals.

 

The move, for the second consecutive year, comes even as the company said last month that its outlook for the healthcare and financial services business—two of its biggest revenue generators—had improved for this financial year.

 

Information technology (IT) services companies have either delayed annual increments or provided lacklustre ones over the past two years as discretionary spending remained