IT hiring uptick seen in July-September period as IT firms bag large deals

Bengaluru, 30 June

- April-June saw a hiring lull owing to severe global uncertainties

- Indian IT firms have bagged large projects towards end of June quarter

- Many companies have started following strict bench policies for better employee utilisation

IT hiring is likely to pick up from July onwards after a lull in the first quarter of ongoing financial year. Such uptick is expected on the back of large project wins by Indian IT services companies in recent months.

According to HR sector experts, hiring has not been frozen though not totally opened up as used to be the case during the post pandemic period. However, there are certain pockets of demand that are emerging.

“January-March (of 2025) was a good quarter. April-June hiring numbers were down. We are hopeful that hiring will again pick up from July onwards. We see some demand traction as many companies have bagged large projects (towards the end of first quarter of FY26),” Supaul Chanda, President (Staffing) of HR staffing firm, Galent told the BizzBuzz.

During April-June period, most IT companies have deferred hiring plans as this period went through intense uncertainty globally. Firstly, the Trump administration’s plan to impose reciprocal tariffs created a lot of uncertainty among enterprises regarding business prospects. Secondly, Israel-Iran conflict raised fears of wide crisis in the Middle East region of the world. These two factors made IT firms to be cautious in their headcount addition plans during the first quarter of FY26.

However, things have started getting better as Middle East crisis have been averted. Moreover, US-China trade deal has been arrived along with many more in the offing in coming days. These factors are likely to support headcount addition in the next quarter.

HR experts, however, opined that impact of AI on hiring would slowly reflect in employee count of Indian IT industry.

“AI’s (artificial intelligence) impact on reducing headcount has been evident in global technology firms, & its impact on Indian IT industry will be seen in phases. This is a bit of transitional phase for Indian IT industry. As India is a talent and labour-oriented market, this will happen in a phased manner,” another source said.

On announcement of strict bench policies, some experts feel that companies have always been following similar policies on reserved employees for decades now.

“Bench period in most services companies is pretty straight forward. The employee, who is moved to the bench, has to crack another project within three interviews. If the candidate is not able to crack it within three interviews, then he or she is out (of the organisation). However, there are exceptions given the skillset. Now, some companies have officially announced it. But it was always there,” said the second source.