New Delhi: Age is catching up for two of India’s leading IT companies – Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Infosys Ltd – as they are witnessing a sharp decline in their young workforce, Mint reported.>
The shrinking number of employees under 30, as stated in the companies annual reports, have raised concerns over the sustainability of the traditional employee pyramid model.>
According to the report, at the end of FY25, just 47.7% of TCS employees in India were below 30, down from 59% in FY22, implying that the company had 44,542 fewer young employees than it had three years ago. >
Meanwhile, at Infosys, only 52% of its 323,578 employees were equal to or under 30 years of age at the end of FY25, down from 60% in FY22 – signalling a net drop of about 17,609 younger employees.>
According to the daily, one of the reasons could be that automation is eliminating a significant chunk of entry-level jobs, signalling broader shifts in the IT services market. With automation tools on offer, the need for younger employees who typically handled customer support roles has reduced.>
As a result, young graduates are more drawn to startups, software product makers, or tech centres of global firms like Google and Microsoft. These also allow them better pay, faster growth and more creative work, according to some analysts.>
Another reason is that the traditional pyramid model may now be dated causing companies to see their margins erode. According to the report, TCS’s revenue in FY25 rose only 3.78% to USD 30.18 billion – slowest in four years – while Infosys’s revenue growth was also sluggish at 3.85%, touching USD 19.28 billion. >
Economic uncertainty
One of the other major reasons why the growth has noticeably slowed down now is because global clients are cutting back on tech spending due to economic uncertainty.>
A Mumbai-based analyst told Mint that slow hiring was a result of the sluggish demand for IT services. “IT services providers hire junior employees, most of whom fall under 30, when there is high demand for tech services. This was the case in FY22 when plenty of freshers were added. Now, because growth has been a little sluggish, hiring has been low, and which is why we see fewer young people.”>
In FY22, TCS and Infosys had added over 157,000 employees combined whereas in FY25, that number dropped to 12,771. According to the report, this also shows up in campus placement data of engineering colleges as they report lesser offers from the top IT service companies.>
Final-year students who would typically receive early offers from these firms are now seeking opportunities at software product firms, fintech startups, or hunting for overseas universities instead.>
Bigger issue abroad
The issue of ageing workforce becomes more pressing in key markets abroad as the firms are losing their appeal among young job seekers.>
In North America, which contributes over half of TCS’s revenue, more than 20% of its workforce is over 50 years old, the daily stated. In Europe, nearly 28% of its employees are above 50.>
On the other hand, Infosys received 4.46 million job applications in FY25—a 24% drop from FY22.>
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