![](\"https:\/\/im.rediff.com\/money\/2019\/jan\/21infy.jpg?w=670&h=900\")
<\/p>\nWith revenue growth impacted and uncertainty deepening in major markets, India’s second largest IT services firm, Infosys, saw a net reduction in its headcount in the fourth quarter of financial year 2022-23 (Q4FY23).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Infosys’ workforce saw a net reduction of 3,611 employees, bringing its total headcount to 343,234.<\/p>\n
This was also the first time in many years that the company did not provide a hiring target for the next fiscal.<\/p>\n
In Q4, attrition at Infosys was at 20.9 per cent, down from the 24.3 per cent in Q3FY23 and 27.7 per cent in Q2.<\/p>\n
“We hired around 51,000 last year. A lot of them are getting skilled and trained.<\/p>\n
“So we have quite a leeway for the next few quarters in terms of the availability of freshers and, of course, with our agile model of doing both college and off-campus recruitment, we can always turn that up (for changing demand).<\/p>\n
“So we have no specific number for FY24 at this stage. We have enough sitting on the bench,” said Nilanjan Roy, chief financial officer of Infosys.<\/p>\n
The IT major’s utilisation, including trainees, was at 76.9 per cent in Q4, and excluding trainees it was 80 per cent.<\/p>\n
Infosys reported a net reduction even as rival TCS added 821 employees in Q4. However, in Q3 TCS too saw a net decline of 2,197 in headcount.<\/p>\n
What comes as a surprise is that Infosys has not provided any target for fresher hiring, which also means that the company does not see a major ramp-up in deals.<\/p>\n
Roy added: “Our model in terms of hiring has got enough flexibility to take care of new volume. In any case, we have enough bench (strength).”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, TCS announced a fresher hiring target of 40,000 for FY24 and it has already made 46,000 offers.<\/p>\n
The company also said it would honour all the offer letters and on-board freshers on time.<\/p>\n
While the Infosys management blamed the higher bench as a reason for hiring less, it also acknowledged that there were ramp-downs in deals.<\/p>\n
Salil Parekh, chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys, said that the major impact for Q4 was due to ramp-downs.<\/p>\n