IT Job Market: Nearly 2 lakh jobs at stake at Infosys, Cognizant, others as cos step-up American hiring

With the US new administration tightening its H-1B Visa norms and an inability of Information Technology (IT) companies to adapt to newer technologies, the IT job market in India is set to witness one of the largest job cuts ever this year, India Today reported. 

According to the news report, nearly two lakh jobs are at stake, with big-ticket companies looking to both hand over pink slips to incumbent employees and hire fewer talent.

The number of layoffs this year is set to be twice that of last year, with inability to adapt to new technologies, inadequate growth, rise in costs (and subsequent fall in profits) and the use of automation tools which reduce the number of employees needed the main reasons behind the same, it said.

Seven of biggest IT firms in the country are in the process of laying off more than 56,000 engineers. This number is set to increase as companies have been unable to deal with newly elected US President Donald Trump's nationalist-protectionist policies.

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As a result of Trump's new policies, many IT companies are in the process of hiring US citizens and asking Indian H-1B Visa holders to return back to their home country, cited the report.

According to PTI news report dated May 2, domestic IT company Infosys will hire 10,000 Americans in the next two years and open four centres in the US in a bid to woo the Trump administration, which has been critical of outsourcing firms for unfairly taking jobs away from US workers.

Wipro has already hired over 2,800 US citizens in the past 18 months, the report said quoting the Livemint.

The US had recently accused Cognizant, along with its Indian counterparts Infosys and TCS, of unfairly cornering the lions share of Americas H-1B work visas, PTI had reported on May 5 .

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As per the PTI report Cognizant President Rajeev Mehta said the company expects to significantly ramp up its US-based workforce by hiring experienced professionals in the open market as well as make more use of university, veteran, and related programmes.

Cognizant seems to be the worst hit as the company is planning on cutting off as many as 6,000 jobs - representing a whopping 2.3% of its total workforce.

The company is reportedly struggling with adapting to new technologies and digital services and is laying off employees in lower-end jobs which are becoming redundant because of automation, the report said.

“The number of layoffs this year is set to be twice that of last year due to inability to adapt to new technologies, inadequate growth and rise in costs.”

Cognizant has also reportedly placed close to 15,000 employees in the lowest category- Bucket 4. That is, they have put them on notice by giving them the lowest ratings possible.

A spokeperson told the Livemint that performance-based reviews this year are consistent with past ones and that the company has not conducted any layoffs, cited the India Today report.

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IT firm Tech Mahindra is also reported to lay-off more than a thousand employees this month.

"We have a process of weeding out bottom performers every year and this year is no different,” the report said quoting aTech Mahindra spokesperson, as saying. 

According to media report, IT company Infosys is planning to lay-off as many as 1,000 employees in the coming months. The employees in question are said to be those working as project managers, senior architects and in other high level-positions.

 “As a result of Trump's new policies, many IT companies are in the process of hiring US citizens and asking Indian H-1B Visa holders to return back to India,” India Today reported.

The Bengaluru-based IT company has already started laying off employees. Last month, the IT giant asked 500 plus employees to leave on the ground of 'non performance'.

In a bid to warn employees, Infosys has also reportedly placed more than 3,000 senior managers in the 'employees needing improvement' category, the report said.

As per the report, Wipro too is reported to start the process of making its organisation leaner and more decentralised by slashing is workforce.

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"Performance appraisal may also lead to the separation of some employees from the company and these numbers vary from year to year,” the online news website said quoting a Wipro spokersperson as saying.

Wipro is planning to trim the fat by removing unnecessary layers such as project leaders which the company feels are not needed anymore as a result of automation, it said. 

Similarly, Tata Teleservices which has a presence in 19 telecom circles in the country has reportedly fired as many as 600 employees in sales and other similar sectors, the news website reported.

The report citing the Gadgets Now said the lay-offs have been done at multiple locations and the sacked employees are being offered a severance package consisting of just one-month's salary.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) on the other hand is reportedly not planning to initiate any layoffs this year.

Besides, DXC technology is also in the midst of a three-year plan to reduce overheads and cut the fat, the report said.

The company is planning to reduce the number of offices in the country from 50 to 26 and is also planning to lay-off 10,000 of its 170,000 strong work-force, it added. 

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