JOIN USTop five IT firms employ 1 million tech workers
For the first time in the Indian technology industry, the employee head count at India's top five IT services companies including two Bengaluru-based ones has crossed one million. The combined workforce of TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and Tech Mahindra stood at 10,13,112 employees on their payrolls as on June 30, 2018.
India's largest IT services provider TCS accounts for the largest share with a total headcount of 4,00,875 employees, which is 39.6% of the total workforce in Tier-I companies. Bengaluru-based IT major and second largest IT services firm Infosys has employed 2,09,905 people, which amounts to 20.7% of the total workers.
Another Bengaluru-based firm Wipro with 1,64,659 employees is at third position. HCL Technologies with 1,24,121 employees stands at fourth position and followed by Tech Mahindra with 1,13,552 employees.
According to an analyst, this turnaround in staffing numbers was on cards. "What you see today is not an overnight syndrome. There were projects in pipeline which had incubation time," said Sudeep Kumar Sen.
These companies together have increased their headcount by 17,292 employees during the April-June quarter of 2018-19. In contrast, the tech majors had seen a decline of over 1,800 employees during the first quarter of previous financial year. According to an analyst, this turnaround in staffing numbers was on cards. "What you see today is not an overnight syndrome. There were projects in pipeline which had incubation time," said Sudeep Kumar Sen, a senior executive at TeamLease, a leading HR services company.
TCS, the country's largest IT services company, which saw a decline of over 1,400 in its headcount during the first quarter of 2017-18, saw its headcount jump by 5,877 employees in the first quarter of the current financial year. Though TCS, like many other IT companies, doesn't share the gross addition numbers, the company reduced its attrition by 0.1% on a QoQ basis to 10.9%.
"Our focus on organic talent development and giving opportunities to our people is driving industry-leading retention," a TCS spokesperson told DH.
On the other hand, Infosys, which had the highest decline in its headcount among the top five during the first quarter last fiscal, went on a hiring spree in the first quarter of 2017-18. The company's hiring saw whopping jump of 105% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The Bengaluru-based IT major hired 17,709 people in Q1 of 2018-19, against 8,645 in Q1 of 2017-18. Armed by an increase in hiring, Infosys saw its headcount jump by 5,798 in the quarter, against a decline of 1,811 employees in the corresponding quarter last year. However, the increase in attrition seems to be an issue for the company, which stood at 20.6% in the first quarter.
"A big percentage of attrition is in people with experience between two and four years," an Infosys spokesperson said. However, the company attributes it to the seasonality. "Part of it is seasonal because in Quarter 1, you typically have a big percentage of people going abroad for higher education. Nevertheless, it is probably higher than what we have seen in the past," U B Pravin Rao, the company's COO said during the quarterly earnings call.
HCL Technologies, which overtook Wipro as the country's third largest IT services company in the bygone quarter, saw its headcount jump by 4,040 people in the first quarter of FY2019.
Wipro has seen a modest rise in its headcount during the first quarter by 832 people, as against an increase of 1,309 in the corresponding quarter last year. The company was the only one among the top four that ended FY2018 with a net decline in its headcount by 1,654 employees. Wipro did not respond to email questionnaire from DH.