Top 5 IT cos cut hiring as AI, automation take root

Bengaluru | Mumbai: India’s top five IT services providers have hired fewer people over the last five years when compared to their revenue growth, suggesting greater adoption of automation and digital technologies. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro and Tech Mahindra are increasingly seeing double-digit growth in services delivered using artificial intelligence-based platforms, automation tools and other digital technologies. At the same time, business from core services such as application development, maintenance and infrastructure services have fallen.

The trend can be attributed to their efforts to achieve higher utilisation and automation at the bottom of the pyramid for mundane tasks, analysts said. “Automation at the lower end, higher utilisation and small bench have resulted in such hiring growth. Directionally, every company is pushing for higher utilisation,” said Madhu Babu, an IT analyst at brokerage firm Centrum.