Costly middle layer faces the axe amid India's IT sector layoff drill

According to data from specialist staffing firm Xpheno, more than 7,700 senior professionals with over 15 years of experience have exited India's IT services firms over the past 12 months

Mid- and senior-level employees at India’s top seven IT services companies are facing unprecedented pressure as slowing growth and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), including agentic AI, push firms to trim the costly middle layer. 

According to data from specialist staffing firm Xpheno, more than 7,700 senior professionals with over 15 years of experience have exited India’s IT services firms — TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, and LTIMindtree — over the past 12 months. That’s roughly 4 per cent of the total senior talent pool of 205,000. 

Of these, 43 per cent joined another Tier-I or mid-tier