TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys, Wipro Together Let Go Of 21,859 Employees In Q2, But Not LTIM, TechM

There are six tech giants in India in terms of market share and these are Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at the top followed by Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, LTIMindtree and Tech Mahindra. These tech giants have also announced their Q2FY24 earnings which were broadly tepid, however, the majority of them also recorded a sharp decline in headcount along with attrition rate. But not all IT firms were letting go of employees, because LTIMindtree and Tech Mahindra made significant net additions in the quarter.

Together, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech have let go of 21,859 employees in Q2FY24. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra and LTIMindtree have increased their headcount by a total of 3,028 employees with the Mahindra company hiring the most.

Indian IT firms that defied the trend of extreme layoffs in FY23 have witnessed back-to-back quarterly drop in employee count. Cracks have been visible in Indian IT firms' hiring plans since the start of FY23 due to geopolitical tensions, intense macro uncertainties, and rate hike cycles. Still, these Indian companies did not lay off their employees even when global tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft among others carried amassed job cuts, however, the hiring process was quite dull and slower.

The problem escalated when the banking crisis in America rocked the financial market in late March 2023. Currently, Indian IT firms are struggling with a trifecta conundrum of slower growth, challenging macro conditions and weakening in tech spending from clients. Due to this, many of these companies are facing huge drops in headcount and the numbers are staggering.

Here's how the top 6 Indian IT firm's employees count performed in Q2FY24:

TCS Employees:

TCS is Tata Group's flagship company and it has let go of 6,333 employees in Q2, taking its total headcount to 608,985 as of September 30, 2023, compared to 6,15,318 as of June 30, 2023. Also, the workforce is down by 7,186 employees from a headcount of 616,171 employees in the second quarter of FY23.

Meanwhile, the company also recorded a sharp decline in attrition rate to 14.9% for the last twelve months, compared to the rate of 17.8% in Q1FY24 and 21.5% in Q2FY24.

Infosys Employees:

More employees left Infosys than compared to its biggest rival TCS in Q2 to the tune of 7,530 employees. As of the September 2023 quarter, Infosys headcount stood at 3,28,764 people as against 3,36,294 as of the June 30, 2023 quarter. On a year-on-year basis, Infosys had to let go of a massive 16,454 employees compared to 3,45,218 headcount as of September 30, 2022.

Similarly, Infosys IT services attrition rate has slipped sharply to 14.6% in Q2FY24 versus 17.3% in Q1FY24. The company's attrition has contracted by steeply 1,250 basis points as against an attrition rate of 27.1% in Q2FY23.

HCL Tech Employees:

The Shiv Nadar-backed company registered 2,945 fewer employees in Q2FY24, taking its total headcount to 219,325 employees by the end of the September 2023 quarter, from 225,944 employees by the end of the March 2023 quarter.

The company's 12-month trailing attrition rate came in at 16.3% from 19.5% a quarter ago.

Notably, HCL Tech's net reduction in the headcount during Q2FY24 is the lowest compared to its peers TCS, Infosys, and Wipro.

Wipro Employees:

The Azim Premji-backed company Wipro also witnessed a similar trend of headcount reduction by 5,051 people -- with total headcount standing at 244,707 people as of the September 2023 quarter, from 2,49,758 employees as of the June 2023 quarter.

At the same time, the tech player's attrition rate declined steeply to 15.5% by the end of Q2FY24, compared to 17.3% in Q1FY24. That being said, Wipro's voluntary attrition rate is at a 9-quarter low. The attrition rate was at a high of 22.9% in Q2FY23. Wipro has been registering a decline in headcount for the past four consecutive quarters.

LTIMindtree Emplyees:

Newly merged, LTI and Mindtree, made a net addition of 721 employees in Q2FY24, taking its total headcount to 78,276 people. This comes after LTIM let go of a huge number of employees to 5,126 in Q1FY24 when headcount totalled 77,555 employees. However, compared to Q2FY23 where the headcount was 82,681 employees, LTIMindtree's employee base fell by 4,405 people

Tech Mahindra Employees:

Despite reporting a weak quarter, this Mahindra Group-backed IT player has made the most hiring compared to its peers above. The company made a net addition of 2,307 employees from July to September 2023. By the end of Q2FY24, the total headcount stood at 150,604 employees compared to 148,297 employees in Q1FY24.

However, on a year-on-year basis, Tech Mahindra's headcount dropped by 13,308 employees from a total headcount of 163,912 employees as of September 2022.

Accordingly, the company's IT attrition rate dropped to 11% in Q2FY24 versus 13% in Q1FY24 and 20% in Q2FY23.