Indian IT Firms See Fewer Young Faces—A Shift in Workforce Dynamics

Two of Indian IT giants – TCS and Infosys – have seen a notable drop in employees under 30 in recent years. TCS's share of young workers fell from 59% in FY22 to 50.3% in FY24, while Infosys saw a decline from 60% to 55%.

This shift is largely due to lower hiring of freshers following the post-pandemic hiring surge. IT firms had aggressively recruited to meet booming demand, but as growth expectations slowed, fresher intake dropped. Additionally, rising interest rates have tempered demand for IT services, leading companies to skip campus placements and focus on experienced talent.

Interestingly, while the share of young employees has declined, the proportion of senior employees over 50 has increased. This could be a temporary trend, as IT firms typically prefer a higher share of young staff to keep wage bills lower. If growth picks up, fresher hiring might rebound.

The decline in young employees at TCS and Infosys has been analyzed by multiple sources. Mint conducted a detailed analysis of workforce trends, highlighting the drop in employees under 30. Additionally, TechGig has reported on the shift, citing industry experts on the reasons behind reduced fresher hiring.

This decline in young employees isn't just limited to TCS and Infosys —it's a broader trend across the IT sector. Many Indian IT Firms have reduced fresher hiring due to slower growth expectations and rising interest rates, which have tempered demand for IT services.

For example, Wipro and HCL Tech have also seen a drop in the proportion of employees under 30, though exact figures vary. The post-pandemic hiring surge led to an overstaffing situation, and now companies are adjusting their workforce composition. Some firms have even skipped campus placements, focusing instead on experienced professionals.

What do you think—could this shift impact innovation and workplace dynamics in the long run? Do comment below....

With Total Revenue of ~ $227 Bn, Indian IT Industry Directly Employs Around 51 Lakh Persons in FY 2021-22

Image - Daniele D'Andreti

In Fiscal year 2021-22, Indian Information Technology (IT) Industry directly employs around 51 lakh persons, most of which are IT skilled, and the total estimated revenue is USD 227 billion, as per National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), said a press release by Ministry of Electronics & IT.

In addition, with increasing digitalization under the Digital India program in the last 7 years, other economic sectors have created large opportunities for digitally enabled jobs, said the relese.

The total revenue of Indian IT sector for the last three years is as under:

Financial Year	Revenue (USD in billion)
FY 2019-20	190
FY 2020-21	196
FY 2021-22 E	227
Estimated | Source: NASSCOM

As per report by Ministry of Electronics & IT on “India’s trillion-dollar digital opportunity”, India is poised to be a trillion dollar digital economy and could support 60 to 65 million digitally enabled jobs by 2025-26. Also, as per NASSCOM, the projected requirement of manpower by Indian IT industry itself by the year 2026 would be around 95 lakh, for India to maintain the growth momentum in IT sector and also of which 55 lakh will be digitally skilled across key digital technologies such as cloud computing, AI, big data analytics and IoT etc.

Some of the steps taken by industry include increased fresher hiring, expanding operations to tier-II/III cities. To develop the future work force in emerging digital skills, Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) have jointly initiated a programme titled “Future Skills PRIME (Programme for Re-skilling/Up-skilling of IT Manpower for Employability)” which aims to create a re-skilling/up-skilling ecosystem in futuristic technologies.

Under the Future Skills PRIME program so far, 8.20 Lakh candidates have registered on the Future Skills PRIME Portal, out of which, 1.36 Lakh candidates have completed their courses. Further, as per NASSCOM, some of the measures taken by industry for manpower planning and skill development training include alliances with academia for training the employee base, innovation and research &development across areas of emerging technologies, internal re-skilling programs and platforms, collaborations with other education technology companies.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Earlier in February, NASSCOM reported that the India IT industry revenues had grown by 2.3% to $194 billion in 2020-21. In its yearly strategic review for 2021-22, NASSCOM said the industry added 4.5 lakh new jobs to take the overall direct employees to 50 lakh people.

In June 2020. it was reported that the value of software exports by units registered under STPI crossed the Rs 46,550-crore mark during the coronavirus lockdown, and timely provisioning of business continuity plans and permissions kept operational impact to minimum.