Infosys CEO Salil Parekh indicated that the company would honour offers made to new hires and let them join, although there would be some changes to the timeline.
The comments from the company’s top executive are significant amid reports that Infosys has delayed the joining of 2,000 new engineering graduates for the 2022 class.
“All the offers we have made are for people who are joining the company. We have changed a few dates but otherwise everyone is joining Infosys and there is no change in that policy,” Parekh told PTI in response to a question on reports that there has been a two-year delay in hiring 2,000 fresh graduate engineers.
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read: Infosys postpones onboarding again, leaving 2,000 graduates in limbo
The Bengaluru-headquartered IT company has a total employee strength of 315,000 as of June 2024.
Recently, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an IT and ITES workers’ union, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment alleging that Infosys has delayed recruitment of 2,000 engineering graduates who were selected for the posts of systems engineers and digital specialist engineers during the recruitment drive for 2022-23.
“These graduates have been subjected to continuous delays in the on-boarding process, unpaid pre-training programmes and unexpected additional assessments after recruitment notifications were issued as early as April 2022. Despite meeting all their own requirements, these professionals have been left in limbo for more than two years…,” NITES had said.
Infosys had previously said it planned to hire 15,000-20,000 new graduates annually, depending on its growth.
Infosys now beat expectations in its first-quarter results. The company reported a 7% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,368 crore and raised its full-year growth guidance. The company also raised its revenue growth guidance for the current fiscal year to 3-4% from an earlier estimate of 1-3%.
The company’s employee headcount fell about 6% to 315,332 in the June 2024 quarter from 336,294 in the same period last year. Employee headcount was down slightly from 317,240 in the previous quarter.
The company increased its employee utilization rate from 78.9% last year to 83.9%.
“Our utilisation is already at 85 per cent. So, there is very little headroom left. As we start seeing growth, we are looking at hiring 15,000 to 20,000 freshers this year, depending on the growth outlook,” Infosys Chief Financial Officer Jayesh Sangrajka said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.
