Wipro Recruits 7,500 Freshers, No FY27 Hiring Plan Amid AI Pivot

While Wipro is speeding up its transition to an AI-led operating model, it has been mum about its hiring plans for FY27, despite having hired 7,500 new employees in FY26. The announcement was made in conjunction with the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, in which top executives warned of unpredictable demand and provided no outlook for hiring in the upcoming fiscal year.

The chief human resources officer of Wipro, Saurabh Govil, stated that 7,500 new hires were made in FY26, with more than 3,000 of those coming in the March quarter alone. Nevertheless, the business chose not to establish recruitment goals for FY27, pointing to the ongoing instability of demand as the reason. The wider IT industry is currently dealing with uneven deal conversion and delayed client expenditure, and there are no hiring guidelines to help with either of these issues. For the June quarter, Wipro predicts a 2% drop in IT services revenue, which will be flat sequentially when adjusted for currency fluctuations.

AI Reshaping Client Priorities: Pallia

Innovations in AI are changing client objectives and creating chances for more meaningful, results-orientated partnerships, according to CEO Srini Pallia. He continued by saying that the AI-native business and platforms division is leading the charge towards a software-as-a-service paradigm. This change is indicative of a larger trend in the IT services industry, where platform-based products and AI-driven delivery are gradually supplementing traditional headcount-led growth strategies.

In addition, the firm has invested more than $1 billion into its AI ecosystem, and shareholders want to see how much of this money actually makes it into the bottom line. The disparity between talent intake and the clarity surrounding near-term deployment is becoming wider as a result of the mix of continuing hiring of freshers and limited growth visibility. Even though Wipro's net profit increased by 3% to INR 3,522 crore and sales increased by 3% to INR 24,236 crore, the company's core IT services division continued to face pressure on growth.

Total revenue from information technology services dipped 1.6% in constant currency and 0.3% in US dollars for the year. Simultaneously, big deal bookings increased dramatically by 45.4% year-on-year to $7.8 billion, revealing a gap between winning deals and actually making money. The March quarter saw a sequential fall of 1.2% in revenue from IT services.

Wipro’s Profitability Continues to Rise

Although growth was slow, Wipro was able to boost its bottom line thanks to a small increase in operating margins. In the fourth quarter, EBIT margin increased to 17.3% from 14.8% in the previous quarter. Wage increases and the acceleration of large acquisitions were highlighted by the corporation as potential challenges to future profitability.

In the March quarter, attrition was 13.8%, which shows that the employment market is beginning to stabilise following years of high turnover. As part of its earnings report, Wipro revealed plans to repurchase shares worth INR 15,000 crore, showing that it is committed to paying back its shareholders. The payout ratio has remained high at 88% for the last three years for this corporation. The move is made in the midst of very slow growth, which indicates a cautious approach to expansion in the near future.