As entry-level employees in India’s IT companies continue to rise faster, the IT firms are now focusing on hiring fresh graduates and increasing their salaries.
Apparao V.V., Chief Human Resources Officer, HCL Technologies said, “The salaries for entry-level engineers have been revised to Rs 4.25 lakh this year from Rs 3.65 lakh. We are also tying up with engineering colleges for courses in analytics and digital content and students who take the courses and clear them will join HCL at Rs. 6 lakh salary.”
The attrition has been at an all-time high for the top IT companies. Infosys’ attrition rate jumped to 27.7% in the fiscal fourth quarter from 15.2% a year ago, and 25.5% in the December quarter. TCS had the lowest attrition rate in the industry, which rose to 17.4% in the March quarter. HCL’s attrition rate was 21.9% at the end of March.
The Executives of IT companies said, “hiring and training freshers is the only sustainable way to fill demand, as the battle for candidates at senior levels has led to poaching, despite non-compete clauses between the companies to stop candidates from joining a rival firm for roles wherein the project and client details are similar.”
HCL’s strategy to raise salaries may prompt rival IT firms such as Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro, and TCS to follow suit. TCS and Infosys did not immediately respond to queries. Wipro is maintaining a silent period and will not entertain media queries, while Cognizant did not respond till press time.
The tech companies are revising the salaries of freshers as part of their new hiring strategies to retain talent as well as to lower the attrition, which has been at record levels for the past two quarters.
According to reports, the sector may rise by at least 15% and, in some cases, by as much as 60% for fresh hires.
The IT companies aim to hire graduates across campuses this year. Noida-based HCL plans to hire 45,000 freshers in FY23. In FY22, Infosys recruited 85,000 freshers in FY22 and plans to hire 50,000 college graduates this year.
TCS onboarded close to 78,000 freshers in FY22 and aims to hire about 40,000 graduates from across campuses this year.
