Key takeaways
- Infosys added 5,043 jobs in Q3 FY26, contrasting with layoffs at TCS and HCLTech.
- Attrition rates improved for Infosys at 12.3%, while TCS and HCLTech reported higher rates.
- Infosys ramped up campus recruitment, hiring 18,000 fresh graduates in the December quarter.
- Despite expanding workforce, Infosys faced a 9.6% drop in net profit quarter on quarter.
- Employee benefit obligations rose to ₹3,455 crore, reflecting costs of the hiring initiative.
Infosys expanded its workforce by more than 5,000 employees in the December quarter even as profit slipped, marking one of the few instances in Q3 where a large Indian IT firm showed clear net hiring at scale.
The Bengaluru based company added 5,043 people in Q3 FY26, taking its total headcount to 337,034. At the same time, employee churn continued to fall, with the last twelve month attrition dropping to 12.3% from 14.3% in the September quarter.
That put Infosys ahead of its closest peers, with TCS reporting 13.5% attrition and HCLTech at 12.4% over the same period.
The hiring push came alongside a sharp ramp up in campus recruitment. Infosys onboarded 18,000 fresh graduates between October and December and said it remains on track to hire 20,000 entry level employees across FY26.
CEO Salil Parekh said the headcount increase reflects rising confidence in demand and deal flow, adding that the company also approved a higher variable pay out in Q3 than in the previous quarter.
This workforce expansion played out against a mixed financial backdrop. Infosys posted revenue of ₹45,479 crore in Q3, up 2.2% sequentially, while earnings before interest and tax rose 1.3% to ₹9,479 crore. Net profit, however, fell 9.6% quarter on quarter to ₹6,654 crore.
Employee benefit obligations stood at ₹3,455 crore as of December 31, 2025, underlining the cost of the hiring drive.
Across the rest of the Indian IT sector, the story was very different.
At HCLTech, headcount fell for a second straight quarter even though the company continued to bring in new graduates. The company ended Q3 with 226,379 employees, down by 261 from the previous quarter, despite adding 2,852 freshers.
Attrition improved to 12.4% on a last twelve month basis. HCLTech has been trimming traditional roles while shifting hiring toward AI engineering, automation, and digital delivery as part of a broader workforce reset.
TCS saw an even sharper contraction. The company closed the December quarter with 582,163 employees, down 11,151 sequentially. The decline came even as the company crossed 2,17,000 associates with advanced AI skills and reported solid financial performance.
TCS management also confirmed that the company is only halfway through its current round of involuntary attrition. Sudeep Kunnumal, VP and chief human resources officer TCS, told analysts that the company has so far completed around 1% of the planned cuts, with the rest expected to play out over the coming months.
