Is your IT job safe? Hiring freeze hits techies hard as TCS, HCL, Cognizant grow without adding staff

India’s tech hiring engine is stalling—and AI is slamming the brakes. For the country’s 1.5 million engineering graduates, the promise of a stable IT job is fading fast as giants like TCS, HCLTech, and Cognizant grow without needing people. The age of mass tech hiring may be over.

For decades, India’s $283 billion IT industry operated on a clear equation: more clients, more projects, more jobs. But artificial intelligence is breaking that link—replacing linear growth with ruthless efficiency.

“AI is reshaping that equation by compressing time, cost, and complexity,” said S. Ravi Kumar, CEO of Cognizant, during a post-earnings call last month. His words echo across the industry as roles in coding, customer support, and application maintenance come under automation’s shadow.

HCLTech was the first to admit the shift. “We’ve grown 4-5% in revenue, but our headcount has not,” said CEO C. Vijayakumar in October, confirming that productivity—not people—is now the lever for growth. In fact, revenue per employee rose nearly 2% year-on-year, a sign of AI-driven output gains.

TCS, the country’s largest private employer, cut 19,755 jobs in just one quarter—the biggest single drop among top tech firms. Cognizant added 6,000 employees, while HCLTech brought in 3,489, but these numbers are modest compared to earlier years of aggressive hiring.

Motilal Oswal analysts confirmed the trend: “Revenue grew faster than headcount, reflecting productivity gains driven by AI.” HCLTech, for instance, earns $61,388 per employee—significantly more than rivals.

The shift is not just about numbers; it’s about how companies charge. TCS COO Aarthi Subramanian said clients are moving toward outcome-based contracts—where billing depends on results, not manpower. That means fewer engineers for the same revenue.

HFS Research CEO Phil Fersht called it plainly: “The era of one-to-one growth between people and revenue is over.”

For India’s engineering graduates, that means fewer entry-level jobs and higher competition. Colleges are scrambling to update curricula with AI certifications, but the window may be narrowing.