Attrition, Hiring at IT Firms Continue to Float on Choppy Waters

HR firms say attrition has risen due to tepid increment, lure of GCCs and startups, and demand for skills like AI

- AVIK DAS

After a brief halt, attrition at India's top information-technology (IT) services companies is creeping up again, even as hiring remains subdued or stagnant across the board.

This comes in a tepid job market, where overall demand remains soft but companies are scrambling to find talent with niche digital skills like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and cybersecurity.

For the top five companies—Tata Consulting Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra—the net addition was 4,703 in the quarter ended June 30.

TCS's net hiring was 5,090. The rest except Infosys saw a slight drop. Infosys added just 210. In comparison, last year's headcount dropped by 2,074.

Attrition, on average, has gone up 1-2 per cent for all of them. But most executives say the numbers are within the comfort range and they expect attrition to come down over the next few quarters.

TCS' attrition rose to 13.8 per cent in the first quarter ended June 30 from 12.1 per cent a year earlier.