Infosys cuts hiring in first quarter

Bangalore  :  In a reversal of trend, Infosys Ltd. hired less employees in first quarter (June-April) of 2012-13 fiscal than in the fourth quarter (January-March) of the last fiscal due to negative growth in business and lower revenue forecast.

In a regulatory filing Thursday, the IT bellwether said gross addition for the quarter under review (Q1) was 9,236 as against 10,676 in the last quarter (Q4) and 9,922 a year ago.

With a whopping 8,079 employees leaving the company during the quarter as against 5,770 in fourth quarter and 7,182 year ago, net addition declined to 1,157 from 4,906 in last quarter and 2,740 a year ago.

As a result, the parent company’s employees’ strength marginally increased to 151,151 from 149,994 sequentially and 133,560 a year ago.

Attrition rate increased to 14.9 percent sequentially from 14.7 percent but declined from 15.8 percent a year ago.

Among its eight subsidiaries in India and overseas, its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations hired 1,798 people, taking its headcount to 22,321 in first quarter (Q1) from 20,523 in last quarter (Q4) and 18,816 year ago.

The company’s Australian subsidiary, however, hired only two persons as against 674 in previous quarter and 539 year ago. Hiring also declined marginally in its Chinese subsidiary to 3,030 from 3,092 last quarter but up from 2,945 a year ago.