[TusharK]

Of the 5,000 graduates offered jobs in 2022—the majority of whose joining was delayed by two years—755 have been laid off so far for failing to clear tests. And it’s not over. The latest layoffs were two weeks ago.

Take Infosys’ utilisation rate, including trainees, which has shot up to 83% in FY25 from roughly 77% in FY23. Exclude trainees, and the increase is flatter, 86% from 83%. The implication is simple: the company is hiring fewer freshers, even as existing ones are being pushed to be more productive.

Hiring process

Two freshers who got job offers from Infosys in 2022 finally got a chance to take the assessments after two years.

When they finally sat for Infosys’ trainee assessments for 2024–25, they were in for a surprise. One Java question had become three, while database management system questions had doubled from four to eight.

Trainees get three attempts to pass the test. After two years in limbo, one fresher failed and was let go. The other scraped through...

Infosys is just the bellwether of what’s happening in IT companies across the board. What it means to be a fresher in such companies has drastically changed in the last few years.

Freshers today have it tougher than ever before. Between 2021 and 2025, average bench size has shrunk from 15–20% to less than 10%, according to data from Teamlease. Meanwhile time on the bench has reduced from 45–60 days to 35–45. Companies are also moving from bulk hiring to an on-tap model—which means they’re hiring only the bare minimum required for current projects.

Salaries

Average entry-level salaries in service firms are Rs 3.5–6 lakh per annum (LPA).

Low salaries are just a reflection of lower margins.

Uncharted waters

Multi-year projects with long lock-in periods—major revenue drivers for IT companies—are now few and far between. Shorter stints are the new norm.

“The Big Four” project director recounted how when his company and a competitor bid for a project, his company won it despite them offering similar services. “The only difference was we offered a shorter lock-in period and consequently, cheaper rates,” he said.

Source: The Ken

[Jeroen]

I hate say, but I told you so. I have been saying this for more than a decade. A business model based on selling competence by the hour is always going to a challenge when business doesn’t grow anymore.

Unless you are providing something unique. None of these companies do anything unique. It’s often compared to supplying warm bodies. Although I don’t particularly like that phrase, it is an unfortunately accurate description of the mainstay of their business.

If you are in services you need to find a model that is not based on hourly rates and or rate cards.

Jeroen

[GTO]

Something clearly wrong with the quality of education or the initial hiring itself, if so many fail the assessment tests. IMHO, the fault lies with both sides = Infosys for the poor quality of initial hiring...and the candidates themselves. If the company has invested in your training, you get 3 attempts to clear the assessments - and you still don't - it shows a lack of skills.

On other threads, many BHPians (including Samurai whose posts I follow on the IT sector) have stated that too many fresh IT graduates don't even know the basics of coding.

[dileepcm]

On one hand, often times recruitment patterns differ from what I see. Big players often campus recruit more than needed at lowest pay, using the pool for further talent selection. The real talent hunt occurs later in the process, not during corporate campus recruitment. This has not always been the case. When I was at my campus rounds back in 2008, the struggle was real and not a lot of offers showed up even though we were a big pool of students then.

On the other hand, the quality of new hires is really lacking due to outdated curriculums and almost sort of mass production of ‘engineers’. In my role, I have mentoring responsibilities and sometimes I am often surprised how 'immature' the new joiners are.

I wonder how many graduates are ready for learning new skills with real interest. The transition from education to corporate work involves a steep learning curve, and I doubt the abilities of these new recruits coming from mass production. Colleges becoming just business means that they produce engineers at cheapest possible way, often leading to low quality. Additionally, factors like insufficient soft skills, lack of commitment and eagerness to gain experience contribute to the problem in my view.

[AMG Power]

A few years ago I was interviewing the Infosys EU Sales Head for a similar role in our company.

I asked him why he was leaving Infosys. He replied “Over here I am firefighting for 4 days and selling for 1 day.”

Enough said.

[Hayek]

Not great news for the Indian economy. IT services (broadly defined - both with the outsourcers and in house) has been the single biggest source of employment generation in India - the only industry where moderate skills people can move to a solidly upper middle class level. It has also been the biggest driver of several other industries, consumer discretionary (cars, durables), fashion, real estate etc - and has a huge multiplier effect on the Indian economy. If IT hiring slows down, every other sector will be hit. Unless these trends reverse (or are reflective of only some large caps losing share), we are in for some trouble.

[navpreet318]

Originally Posted by GTO

Something clearly wrong with the quality of education or the initial hiring itself, if so many fail the assessment tests. .........

Having seen the whole recruitment process up close and personal at both undergraduate and post graduate levels let me chime in a bit.
See education business is a cash cow now a days. The number of placements you do gets you more freshers and more money!

Which are these colleges? Private of course.
How to make money? First off save money!
How to save money-
Poor infra- labs, facilities, etc.
Spend less on faculty.
Spend less on students.

What does this get you? Poor pool of student in terms of education.

So now can they get placed easily? NO!

How do you get them all placed? Bribe the recruiters. There is a full time team of each college which takes care of recruitment teams from all the different companies.
Packages are doled out in cash and kind. Expensive gifts, vacations, pampered stays all in favour of number of students being recruited.

So now is this a good talent pool recruited? NO!
How to deal with it? Delay joining of the poorest of the talent pools and expect some of them to look for jobs elsewhere.
Those who join, put them through rigorous tests and scenario so that they leave themselves or are chucked out.
Those left are decent workhorses. Pile on the work on them.

This is how the recruitment game play happens across the private players. Tell your children to study hard and learn the basics well and get admitted in good government colleges where the experience is richer as well as recruitment is good and genuine.

[attrip2008]

Let’s talk about the elephant in the (job) room: Gen-AI.

There’s a lot of buzz about hiring slowing down, but what’s really changing the game — and quietly gutting entry-level roles — is the rise of GenAI.

Here’s the truth:
GenAI isn’t coming for your job. But someone using GenAI will.

We’re seeing this already. Tasks that once took three Java developers now take one, with GenAI writing, refactoring, and even debugging faster than junior coders can Google “how to fix NullPointerException.”
One SQL bug becomes four — but GenAI solves them before your coffee cools.

This isn’t just about tech. Content creation, copywriting, video editing — all feeling the tremors.
Entire creative pipelines are being rebuilt, not just retooled.

India, with its massive dependency on execution-heavy tech jobs, is seeing this up close.
Let’s face it: when basic skills can be automated, efficiency becomes the new skill.

If your role was “copy-paste, clean up, submit,” you’re now competing with a bot that doesn’t sleep — and a peer who knows how to wield that bot.

It’s not doom. It’s evolution.
The new job description? Learn fast. Adapt faster. And if you can’t beat GenAI, make sure you’re the one driving it.

[NomadSK]

Why most of the toppers opt for computer science for engineering or that’s the sought after branch ? Do they have passion for that stream or they know that will protect their future, cuz there’s money. So many times I have seen parents brag about that the engineering college has got 100% placement in that blah blah specific branch, so if that’s the criteria of choosing the stream of study, then for sure we are heading for the dooms day. In our sub-conscious mind we are wired that money is more important than anything.

It’s high time we start chasing dreams/passion. The problem lies in our system where quantum of money is related to the pride value in the society and everyone starts chasing the mirage.

Why most of these guys head for software jobs, because they know that’s where the money lies, but not their interests or dreams, so it’s no surprise that you get poor talent or I would say non-interested talent. Most of them just float to survive.

I believe everyone is having some hidden talent, all society/system has to give them space to flourish, these guys are the fishes just being judged by the ability of climbing trees.

[thanixravindran]

In a related news, OpenAI has released Codex - 'it is a software engineering agent that runs in the cloud and does tasks for you, like writing a new feature of fixing a bug"

https://x.com/sama/status/1923398457747787817

There is a huge opportunity and market in India for software products/applications only if IT majors at least now look into Domestic customers as the USD billing cushion fades away. It will have its challenges but they can reinvent themselves.

[Samarth 619]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Having seen the whole recruitment process up close and personal at both undergraduate and post graduate levels let me chime in a bit.
See education business is a cash cow now a days. The number of placements you do gets you more freshers and more money!

Which are these colleges? Private of course.
How to make money? First off save money!
How to save money-
Poor infra- labs, facilities, etc.
Spend less on faculty.
Spend less on students.

What does this get you? Poor pool of student in terms of education.

So now can they get placed easily? NO!

How do you get them all placed? Bribe the recruiters. There is a full time team of each college which takes care of recruitment teams from all the different companies.
Packages are doled out in cash and kind. Expensive gifts, vacations, pampered stays all in favour of number of students being recruited.

I'm a professor in a private college in a comparatively small city, so allow me to share some insights.

Yes, a private college works on profit basis, but there is huge competition as well. And Return on Investment is not a concept that we can ignore on the premise that we're in a service sector.
And no, bank ROI is not even considered, it's business ROI.

Thus, each point you said becomes true:- Faculty members earn salaries in Rs. 2x,xxx format, costs are being saved, infra is being ignored and lab assistants being pressurised to use that last bit of hardware, to use open source stuff or old OSes whose keys are cheap (in the 2010's, it was worse, they pirated OS'es and softwares, when telemetry was not a thing).
And frustrated students sometime deface and destroy these labs and walls and college property, yes it happens mostly with undergraduate students.

Tell me one thing: Do a 1.1Lakh MBA from our college in Data Analytics + a second specialisation of your choice, and get 6LPA package in a nearby state capital as a fresher, in just 2 years of MBA, sounds like a good deal, doesn't it? The student doesn't think so, because the other government college can easily give a discount over this little fees as well.
Yes, even a 1.1L MBA is expensive for our students, and since fuel is expensive, they stop coming to college.

All our faculty members are NET/SET Certified, think about this, we competed against IIM/ top college faculty members from across the nation to get this piece of paper.
As for courses, only place booming right now is Data Analytics, and everything IT and AI and all.

In the end, there's not enough money to even bribe the recruiter. Towards the end, I'm happy that I'm able to contribute to the present (not absentee) student's skills and career. And on a tremendous value for money. Education is a service after all, despite its kalyugi avatar.

[Fuldagap]

The blame can't just be put on students and pin it on their lack of skills.
Recent graduates from say IMI Delhi, which intakes CAT percentiles 90 and above, had a 65% placement only. Even in those 65% the salary packages are mostly 6-8 LPA. The fees for the education is about 22 LPA, (most students loan the amount).
It is not just about Infy test clearance problem. Speak with the students, they are quiet intelligent and bright. Easy to blame them for lack of skills when a candidate has already been through a tough intake process. Weak students can never make it through for companies like Infy, TCS.

I see students these days much more apt with coding in 1 language or more. This number is quite high compared to previous generations. Students learn to code because it is trendy, cool and very much required. Also languages are easy to grasp now compared to say C++ earlier.

I'd be quite happy to be corrected on the IMI info that I presented.

[Utsav_199]

The primary problem fair and square lies in the 'Mindset of the big 4'

An entire internet boom, apps boom, search boom and now AI boom passed and they have ZERO products that consumers use. Lack of R&D and ZERO drive to lead in new upcoming technologies has lead to this.

Graduates-
"A Virat Kohli or a Saurav Ganguly are all you need to change the mindset of a nation's youth, let alone the cricket team"

1. Societal mindset
Our young kids are inculcated to simply go for cushy jobs with stable pays, for that one needs to be studious, dedicated and committed - good qualities which do pay of richly, but poor ultimate goal.

2. Wrong role-models
We have ZERO hero companies, and if the service companies are deemed hero companies, if their employees are deemed role models, I feel very sorry for the nation.

3. Top down education funnel
The service dominated sector often needs cookie cutters which our universities aptly pump out in droves, till date, the service companies mostly did not mind the fact a graduate would need hand holding for 6-12 months. But now that fact is coming to bite them. We were never encouraged to do practical R&D, real use apps and such (barring a few examples but then they do not transmit to real life)

4. Bogus leaders
Even today, the shameless comments by a top founder at one of the top4 discarding AI and downgrading it's use-case such that it suits his personal interests is pathetic. (Hint: We are not going to get anywhere by adding AI to Adhar. It is like saying a fast-tag and CNG pump network will make us stand next to China in auto manufacturing, seriously, it is that bad!)

Good part-
I absolutely love our young Kids, you cannot imagine what heights you can reach if they are just led in the right direction.

Being a founder at a rag tag jugaad startup, we've made absolutely world class products that bring in foreign $ by just being focused on the right things. Imagine an entire nation or even a large company with the resources focused on creating the best tech in the world having such a talent pool -- forget poor education nonsense, just the right attitude and the correct training after being hired can make us world leaders. We have the young fired up talent to do so.

[AirbusCapt]

Originally Posted by GTO

Something clearly wrong with the quality of education or the initial hiring itself, if so many fail the assessment tests. IMHO, the fault lies with both sides = Infosys for the poor quality of initial hiring...and the candidates themselves. If the company has invested in your training, you get 3 attempts to clear the assessments - and you still don't - it shows a lack of skills.

On other threads, many BHPians (including Samurai whose posts I follow on the IT sector) have stated that too many fresh IT graduates don't even know the basics of coding.

Gto, its not just in IT alone. Even in aviation the quality of fresh pilots/cabin crew/engineers is poor to outright pathetic. Naturally failure rates are very high. More than knowledge or skills it is basic attitude issues which are causing problems during IOE and line training.

[sandeepmdas]

Infy et al changed the way the young Indian professionals see career goals and earned billions of $$$ of forex, okay, but for me the poster boy of Indian IT sector is always Peutronics (now Tally Solutions P Ltd). The company that publishes the Tally software solutions.

I personally assembled and sold at least 80 PC between 1992-97 to shopkeepers and small business owners to run Tally exclusively. It is probably the only software in the world that made computers sell. I received a princely sum of 1200 to 1500 rupees per PC, the latter for promoting 2 hard disks with a RAID card An "original" idea I got from a PC Magazine UK which I read in the British Library.

Although I am a commerce graduate I never appreciated or understood the art of accounting and book-keeping so I went to a small-time private tutor who tried his best teaching me. Eventually he bought a PC from me and learned Tally and within a year mastered it inside out. He then went abroad and started teaching Tally in the GCC countries.

The giant TCS actually launched a rival product of Tally which didn't do well and was discontinued. I think its name was E-X.

I just now checked their website and found that over 2.5 million user licenses have been sold so far; based on that I estimate the number of people who use, train and master Tally for a living could be well over 10 million so far. I have also met Englishmen and Australians who are familiar with Tally.

Tally is the bus that Infy and other such consulting companies missed. They never tried to launch any B2C product or service. That said, Tally Solutions also missed the bus IMHO. They never went public and opportunity is now apparently lost.

Nevertheless Tally is one of those rare Indian success stories that can be compared to ISRO, IndiGo, Mahindra & Mahindra, Brahmos and UPI. The one whose success paved the way for other Indians getting a chance for a better living.

Somewhat OT.