Wipro Plans To Join Other Big Tech Firms In Slashing New Hiring As Spending Cools

Wipro on Wednesday clocked almost flat growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,667.3 crore for the September 2023 quarter and projected a 3.5 per cent fall in revenue in the current quarter

Wipro has made the comments as it reported decelerating sales in the fiscal second quarter and net income that missed analysts’ estimates.

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Citing cautious clients that are slashing spending, Indian IT services firm Wipro is planning to hire fewer engineering graduates this year, news agency Bloomberg said. According to the report, Bengaluru-headquartered Wipro has said it would first take on people to whom it had already made offers but hadn’t yet brought onboard, instead of the usual big recruiting push.

Wipro, India's fourth-largest software services firm, made the comments as it reported decelerating sales in the fiscal second quarter and net income that missed analysts’ estimates. “This year the environment has changed, as you’ve seen across the industry,” said Saurabh Govil, chief human resources officer, in an interview. “So, we will be cautious.”  Govil also said Wipro, which hired 22,000 new graduates in the year through March, will take on fewer new recruits overall this fiscal year.

Wipro on Wednesday clocked almost flat growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,667.3 crore for the September 2023 quarter (Q2) and projected a 3.5 per cent fall in revenue in the current quarter on a weak global economic outlook. It had posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 2,649.1 crore a year ago.

The company isn’t alone in deepening its reliance on the existing workforce. India’s information-technology bellwether Infosys Ltd., which hired more than 50,000 graduates in the last fiscal year, has said it’s unlikely to go to colleges for campus placement in the year through March 2024, while HCL Technologies Ltd. is hiring just about 10,000 new graduates, 5,000 fewer than it previously planned and about half of what it hired last year. The hiring trends will also likely impact smaller outsourcing firms. All of these companies, including larger rival Tata Consultancy Services, are seeking to reduce costs and improve employee productivity.

India’s more than $245 billion IT services sector is one of the largest employers in India, typically known for hiring thousands of recent college graduates who get rigorous tech training and wait on the so-called “bench” before they start billable hours on client projects.