AI’s quiet takeover: Why freshers are missing in IT hiring

India’s largest IT services companies are quietly reshaping their hiring playbooks—and freshers are feeling the heat, The Times of India has reported.

In a sign of changing priorities, net employee additions at the top five firms barely crossed 4,700 in the June quarter, a far cry from the 50,000-plus levels seen just two years ago.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra together brought in just 4,787 people this quarter. TCS accounted for the bulk with 6,071 hires, while Infosys added a marginal 210. The rest—HCLTech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra—shrunk their headcount by 269, 114, and 1,111 respectively.

The drop highlights how fresher hiring is becoming the first casualty as companies focus on experienced, cross-functional talent, TOI report said.

Back in FY21’s June quarter, these same firms had hired over 53,000 people. That number dropped to nearly 60,000 in FY22, and halved to around 22,000 last year. Now, with AI tools increasingly handling routine L1 and L2 tech tasks, the demand has shifted to lateral hires with niche skills in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and full-stack development.

“Traditional metrics like net hiring and utilisation no longer reflect growth in the IT services industry,” said Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, partner at tech advisory firm Catalincs, to The Times of India. “These numbers also carry social implications. In the context of AI and digital, there is an urgent need for India to reimagine its higher education system. We need to emphasise applied problem-solving, interdisciplinary thinking, creativity, and adaptability to remain relevant.”

Hiring today is happening in spurts, mostly triggered by large-scale digital deals, and concentrated in specialised domains, as per industry experts, as cited by TOI. For many fresh graduates entering the tech workforce, that means fewer on-campus offers and more competition for entry-level roles that are fast disappearing.

(With inputs from TOI)