Aug 20, 2024 09:23 AM IST

Infosys launched a ‘power programme’ for colleges with differential hiring under which the IT major is offering packages of up to ₹9 lakh per annum, it was reported. Citing two people in the know, Economic Times reported that the company’s entry-level fresher pay packages are between ₹3-3.5 lakh which makes the new programme different. A person in the know told the outlet, “The focus of these categories of hiring is on coding and software challenges, programming skill testing and other specialised skill tests for both tests and interviews. For Infosys, these pay packages offered are between ₹4-6.5 lakh and ₹9 lakh.”

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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also has a similar initiative names ‘Prime’ which focuses on specialised hiring of freshers for software development profiles and offers salaries in the range of ₹9-11 lakh per annum . TCS hires freshers under three categories- ‘Ninja’ with packages around ₹3.6 lakh, ‘Digital’ at ₹7.5 lakh and ‘Prime’.

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This comes as Infosys plans to hire 15,000-20,000 graduates in FY25. Jayesh Sanghrajka, chief financial officer at Infosys, said in the firm’s post June quarter (Q1) earnings conference call last month, “As you know, in the last multiple quarters, we have moved to the agile hiring base. That basically means we hire freshers both from the campus and off the campus.”

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In 2024, top five IT companies in India have reduced the number of employees in total by more than 70,000. TCS witnessed an improvement in the June quarter with 5,452 additions but at Infosys, the headcount dropped by nearly 2,000 during April to June. HCLTech said it added 1,078 freshers in the first quarter of FY25 compared to 3,096 in the previous quarter.