Infosys lets go of around 300 trainees, third round of exits this year

Bengaluru: Infosys, on Friday, let go of around 300 trainees after they failed the internal assessments, according to internal company mails examined by DH. This is the third round of terminations in 2025 of entry-level hires by the Bengaluru-headquartered tech behemoth, totalling around 800 trainees. The trainees could not clear assessments after being hired in October 2024 post a two-year delay. 

“Further to the announcement of the results of your final assessment attempt, please be informed that you have not met the qualifying criteria in the ‘Generic foundation training program’ despite the additional preparation time, doubt-clearing sessions, several mock assessments and three attempts. As a result, you will not be able to continue your journey for the apprenticeship program,” stated an email sent on April 18th to the trainees.

The latest round of firings come at a time when the company approved Rs 51 crore employee stock option benefits for the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Salil Parekh, on Friday. 

While Infosys declined to comment, a company executive aware of the development told DH that they had ‘exited’ upon failing the exams and weren't laid off. 

Multiple trainees who spoke to DH alleged being exposed to unruly behaviour by the human resource (HR) department and forceful resignation over threats of blacklisting resumes.

“A majority of these entry-level employees who are being tested for coding, came from non-coding backgrounds of electrical, mechanical and even metallurgy engineering. Only a handful of them are from the computer science background and even they are struggling to pass,” a source said.

Infosys has promised those laid off a month’s salary, although not immediately. Moreover, they have been given three days' time to stay at the Mysuru campus hostel and a transport back to Bengaluru or another convenient location. During the first round of layoffs this year, Infosys had forced the trainees to leave within hours without any transport facility or an extension to stay.

It has offered to sponsor external training to prepare for potential roles in the business process management (BPM) industry. 

“On successful completion of the training, you may also apply to available opportunities in Infosys BPM Limited. However, if you wish to continue honing your IT skills, you also have an option to choose an Infosys sponsored external training program on Information Technology fundamentals to further support your IT career journey,” the email read. 

Sources also said that the trainees were being given around 4-5 days of time for another attempt which does not suffice for the coding courses, also complaining that the educators came out as under qualified to teach. 

The results of the next batch of trainees are expected to be out next week.