IT services firms witness first rise in hiring in 20 months
IT services companies recorded their first rise in the past 20 months, with the total number of open positions accepting applications rising to 82,000 in March from a low of 50,000 in January this year, data from LinkedIn and other top job boards showed.
But on the back of dipping attrition, the collective gross hiring by the top IT services companies fell 4-6% QoQ in the quarter ending March, shows an analysis done for ET by staffing firm Xpheno, based on talent movement patterns in the January-Mar period. The analysis looked at Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HCL, LTI Mindtree, L&T Technology Services, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant.
“While gross hiring (attrition refills and fresh hiring) has been low and declining for eight quarters, the current rise in active demand denotes a return of hiring for capacity in the ITS cohort,” said Anil Ethanur, co-founder, Xpheno.
“With the 4-6% drop, the gross hiring volume for the quarter ending March 2024 could emerge the lowest in more than two fiscal years. But despite the dip in gross hiring, the combined impact of lowered exits, will result in a headcount degrowth that's lesser compared to previous quarter,” he added.
Utilization
IT sector consultants said that the conversation for FY25 is still heavily focused on more dilution of the bench, increasing automation, improving efficiency and targeted hiring mostly in niche areas such as AI and GenAI amid continued macroeconomic uncertainty and hardly any signals of
