Infosys, an Indian tech pioneer from the 1980s has long been known for identifying and nurturing fresh talent. As one of India’s largest IT service providers, the company has operations in 56 countries and a total revenue of US$ 19.11 billion (LTM).
Infosys’s ‘Global Graduate Hiring Program’ attracts thousands of applicants yearly. The company is known for longer training periods than its competitors. Infosys also focusses on structured skill development of its employees.
Infosys, once synonymous with hiring and training freshers, is now under scrutiny for mass layoffs. Is the company shifting away from its fresher-focused hiring model? What does this shift mean for fresh graduates and the future of IT employment?
How Infosys Built Its Reputation on Hiring and Training Freshers
Freshers, or recent graduates, form the backbone of Infosys’s talent pipeline. Infosys boasts the world’s largest corporate university spread across a 337 acre campus. The Infosys Global Education Centre in Mysuru has over 200 classrooms and the capacity to train up to 14,000 employees simultaneously. Since its inception in 2002, Infosys has conducted 24+ million training hours for its employees globally.
Infosys’s focus on nurturing fresher talent made it a preferred employer. By investing in their development, the company ensured a steady influx of skilled professionals to the global IT landscape. This strategic focus not only addressed the industry’s dynamic needs but also underscored Infosys’s role in nurturing the next generation of tech innovators. The layoffs point to a shift towards more stringent hiring benchmarks.
Infosys Hiring Freeze and Layoffs: A Shift in Recruitment Strategy?
In the fiscal year 2021-22, Infosys expanded its hiring program to onboard approximately 35,000 college graduates globally (Business Today). CEO Salil Parekh confirmed that the company aimed to recruit 55,000 freshers or more for 2022-23 (Business Today).
However, in 2023, Infosys announced it would not conduct campus hiring due to a “significant fresher bench” amid declining demand in key markets like the US (Business Today). Despite this, the company organized walk-in recruitment drives, such as the event at its Bengaluru development center on March 9, 2024, to attract new talent (Business Today).
Infosys Mass Layoffs and Employee Backlash
Recent developments have sparked a controversy around Infosys’s hiring and retention policies. A large number of freshers claim to have been laid off abruptly and with great insensitivity. The sudden terminations sparked strong reactions.
The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an IT employee union, has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, alleging unethical practices. NITES claims that nearly 700 freshers were terminated a mere six months from joining. These freshers were onboarded in September 2024 after having waited for over two years post-graduation.
The laid-off employees say they were called in groups, their phones confiscated, and pressured to sign ‘mutual separation’ letters—without prior notice or severance pay. Some employees alleged the use of intimidation tactics, including the deployment of security personnel, during the process. One trainee mentioned fearing speaking up (Times of India).
NITES is seeking intervention to protect the rights of the affected employees. They allege that Infosys deployed bouncers and security personnel during the termination process to intimidate employees (NDTV). Harpreet Singh Saluja, NITES president, describes the layoffs as a shocking and unethical move.
Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad criticised the IT industry for lack of transparency in layoffs and performance evaluation. He also flagged concerns about work pressures and pointed to the industry’s preference for profitability over employee stability. (Indian Express)
Why Did Infosys Fire The Freshers?
But Infosys presented a different picture. They denied the claims and confirmed that only 300 trainees had been let go on February 7, 2025, for failing to clear mandatory internal assessments as per their contracts (PeopleMatters). The company stated that these freshers had undergone foundational training at the Mysuru campus. Citing their longstanding policy, the company said that these recruits were required to clear internal assessments, particularly in Java programming and database management systems, with a minimum score of 65%. Those who failed despite being given three attempts were asked to leave as per due process.
Another 450 trainees from the October 21 batch were awaiting their third assessment attempt on February 14. Infosys also refuted allegations of intimidation, stating that no force or bouncers were used during the layoffs. The company emphasized that this policy is outlined in the contracts and has been in place for more than twenty years, designed to maintain high-quality talent for their clients.
Infosys is currently engaging with the Karnataka Labour Department to explain their training and assessment processes. The company maintains that these layoffs were not cost-cutting measures but part of its long-standing training policy to ensure only qualified candidates progress. Infosys chief human resources officer Shaji Mathew offered an assurance that the company’s hiring plans, including onboarding 20,000 freshers in the fiscal year 2025-26, remain on track (Hindustan Times).
The Future of IT Jobs: AI, Automation, and Tougher Hiring Standards
Experts point to changes in the evaluation process of Infosys. While the three attempt policy has stayed consistent, the passing percentage has been raised from 50% to 65%. The training curriculum has also substantially expanded. At least 200 hours of study are already required and a trainee needs an additional 8 hours of self-study per day.
This incident may point to a possible pattern of the future in the industry. Other major Indian IT companies like TCS, Wipro and HCL have adjusted their hiring and layoff strategies to keep up with global economic shifts (Economic Times). This follows the pattern of global IT sector layoff (Business Insider).
With AI expected to generate 90% of software code, IT companies are demanding faster upskilling and higher technical expertise from freshers (Business Insider). Thus the industry itself is skewing towards higher performance standards and more pressure to upskill and adapt faster. This shift is forcing companies like Infosys to rethink hiring and training models.
What This Spells For Infosys & The IT Industry
The layoffs have impacted Infosys’s image as a stable and fair employer. They signal a larger trend in IT: stricter hiring, tougher performance standards, and evolving job security risks. As automation reshapes the industry, companies must balance cost-cutting with ethical hiring practices to maintain trust.
These sackings offer short-term cost reductions. They could signal a shift towards contract workers over permanent employees. But this approach will greatly diminish the innovation capacity and established institutional knowledge upon which Infosys has built its foundation.
As a thought leader in the space, Infosys’s actions could also impact the industry as a whole, setting patterns into motion. The ripple effect on the job industry will put greater pressure on academic institutions to better prepare their students for a volatile work environment.
However global political policies could spell hope for IT job seekers. Picking up after the coronavirus slowdown, this could mean a surge in work. US president Trump’s second term promises corporate tax cuts and reduced red tape which should lead to greater tech spends. Industry leaders expect the administration to be pro-growth and pro-business. Given the positive trend in current relations between India and the US, this could mean that US economic growth flowing towards the Indian IT sector. (Financial Times)