India’s second-largest IT services firm, Infosys, has set an ambitious target to onboard over 20,000 freshers in FY26, reinforcing its commitment to talent development despite recent layoffs and macroeconomic headwinds. The announcement comes alongside the company’s rollout of 5–8% average salary hikes, with top performers receiving increments of 10–12%, even as rivals like TCS and Wipro adopt a cautious stance on wage revisions.
Infosys plans to exceed its FY25 fresher intake of 15,000–20,000 with the new target, focusing on engineering graduates to bolster its AI, cloud, and digital solutions teams. While the company added just 199 employees in Q4 FY25, it expanded its total workforce by 6,388 in FY25, reaching 323,578 employees by March 2025. However, attrition rose to 14.1% (from 13.7% in Q3), driven by competition from global capability centers (GCCs) and higher education opportunities.
Infosys laid off 400 trainees in February 2025 at its Mysuru campus after they failed multiple evaluation tests, highlighting its selective approach to quality control.
Infosys began rolling out FY26 wage hikes in January 2025, with the remainder effective April 1, prioritizing employee retention amid rising attrition. Also, TCS deferred its wage hikes, citing business environment uncertainty. While Wipro has not finalized FY26 increment timelines, opting to decide “closer to the date”.
The company’s average salary increase of 5–8% aligns with pre-pandemic levels but falls short of previous years’ double-digit hikes, reflecting cost optimization efforts.
Infosys reported a 12% YoY drop in Q4 net profit to ₹7,033 crore, though revenue grew 7.9% YoY to ₹40,925 crore. For FY26, it projected 0–3% constant currency revenue growth, signaling guarded optimism amid global IT spending cuts. CEO Salil Parekh emphasized strengths in AI, cloud, and automation, which are critical to maintaining margins and client relevance.
India’s top IT firms added 13,553 employees in FY25, reversing FY24’s historic decline of 63,759 job losses:
TCS hired 6,433 employees in FY25 and plans 42,000+ freshers for FY26.
Wipro added 732 employees, with FY26 campus hiring yet to be detailed.
Despite automation and AI reducing entry-level coding demands, Infosys and TCS continue large-scale fresher recruitment to future-proof talent pipelines and meet project ramp-ups.