Wipro Cuts FY26 Fresher Hiring to 7,500–8,000 After Weak Q3 Performance

IT giant Wipro announced on 16 January that it now anticipates hiring 7,500–8,000 graduates for the current fiscal year (FY26), a decrease from its initial goal of 10,000–12,000. The change follows subdued third-quarter performance, in which the Bengaluru-based company hired just 400 new employees.

Saurabh Govil, the CHRO of Wipro, recently held a press meeting to discuss the company's Q3 earnings. During the press briefing, Govil said that Wipro had just roughly 400 new hires by the conclusion of the current fiscal year, indicating that college recruitment was slow this quarter. The business had stated 10,000. "I think we'll end up between 7,500 and 8,000," he stated. The company has hired more than 5,000 freshers so far this year, despite the quarterly slowdown. Let us explore why Wipro has pulled a break on hiring.

Focusing More on Infusion AI

Although volume recruiting has decreased, Wipro leadership underlined that the company is putting more of an emphasis on "AI-ready" people. Govil went on to say that in terms of hiring, particularly on campuses, the company has established 50 Centres of Excellence at various colleges.

The business develops a curriculum in a particular field from these centres, such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, or data work, and then hires personnel from there. Those with some client experience in that field are paid premiums. Wipro is using AI skills in this way. Additionally, a lot of internal work is being done to upskill the company's current workforce in terms of certificates.

Recent Developments in Wipro

In the October–December quarter, Wipro hired 6,529 new workers, increasing its overall workforce to 2,42,021. The integration of the Harman DTS acquisition and the "rebadging" of staff from a significant transaction inked last fiscal year (the Phoenix deal) were the main drivers of this increase.

The corporation claimed to be in the "process of deciding" about the eagerly awaited pay increases. Due to labour code implementation and one-time restructuring expenses, Wipro reported a 7% drop in consolidated net profit to INR 3,119 crore for the third quarter of FY26 on Friday. In Q3 FY26, the company's operating sales climbed 5.5% to INR 23,555.8 crore from INR 22,318.8 crore in the same period the previous year.