Indian IT behemoths Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys hired a record 1.85 lakh freshers between them in the first year that ended on March 31, 2022 as demand for digital talent outstripped supply amid the pandemic.
TCS's employee headcount increased by 35,209 in the fourth quarter to 592,195, the highest ever net addition in a quarter. Over the entire fiscal, it hired around one lakh new employees.
Through its campus recruitment model, the company expects to hire around 40,000 freshers in fiscal year 2023, with its needs growing over the course of the year.
Meanwhile, the number of employees at Infosys increased by 21,948 to 314,015 in the quarter. In fiscal year 2022, it hired 85,000 freshers and intends to hire more than 50,000 this fiscal year.
TCS's attrition rate remained high, at 17.4%, compared to 15.3% in the previous quarter, with top executives predicting that demand for talent will level off as the business has consistently cultivated personnel over the past two years.
“We see incremental attrition flattening. So hopefully by the time we get to June, we should see that we would have tested the peak of this," TCS managing director Rajesh Gopinathan said during the company’s post-earnings press conference on Monday.
The attrition rate at Infosys increased to 27.7% in the March quarter, up from 25.5% in the December quarter. “Attrition for the year is higher but attrition for the quarter has stabilised, down by 5% both in percentage and absolute headcount,” said Nilanjan Roy, chief financial officer (CFO).