Fewer jobs, delayed onboarding: Why Indian IT sector is getting tougher for freshers

Indian IT firms including IBM, Accenture, Oracle Financial Software Services, and Cognizant are delaying onboarding of freshers based on project availability.

India's five largest IT companies cut a net 6,981 jobs in FY26 after adding 12,718 in FY25, per the report.

The IT sector workforce grew only 1.35 lakh to 5.9 million in 2026, per Nasscom estimates.

TCS added a net 9,000 employees in Q1 FY27, its biggest quarterly addition in three years.

Hiring is shifting to selective, demand-led recruitment focused on AI-ready talent, reducing volume campus hiring.