India’s IT companies will slash campus hiring by at least 40% on the back of ‘robust bench strength’, reduced client orders and poor visibility of when the recessionary phase will pass, reports LiveMint, citing an analysis by Teamlease Digital. Bench strength refers to an organisation's ability to fill roles with an internal candidate. Teamlease noted that the drop in demand for IT firms is a turnaround from two years ago when the hiring frenzy had just begun. According to Teamlease Digital’s data, IT firms are projected to hire 155,000 students in FY24, CEO Sunil Chemmankotil said. This is nearly a 48% drop from 230,000 recruited in FY23. The decline is stark when the hiring by IT sector was 600,000 in FY22.

“We are choosing not to go to campus as we want to first honour the offers, we have made," said Saurabh Govil, chief human resource officer, Wipro, said. Govil explained that the “talent environment today is different from what it was a year ago. The race to hire ahead of demand has been replaced by a more measured approach in light of the declining attrition rates and the ongoing economic uncertainty".