Indian IT firms Defer Annual Wage Hike

Indian IT Companies Postpones Salary Hike – Majority of the Indian IT service providers are deferring the salary increments and promotions to conserve cash as they gear up to battle the crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. IT majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro have already announced deferring wage-hike plans, other biggies such as Infosys and HCL Technologies are expected to follow suit.

In contrary, French IT services and consulting major Capgemini and US-headquartered Cognizant have effected salary hikes, apart from giving out of turn increments, to help employees during this time of crisis. Last week, French IT services firm Capgemini rolled out high single-digit hikes for 70 per cent of its Indian staff of about 84,000, effective April 1. The rest will get increments from July. It is also giving out cash benefit of up to Rs 10,000 to staffers who are stranded without a paying guest accommodation.

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United States-headquartered Cognizant had decided to give 25 per cent additional pay of basic wages to its employees in India and Philippines as a sign of gratitude for continuing work during the crisis.

“Many Indian firms, even without a single penny of revenue at this point of time, are not laying off people. In that sense, Indian IT firms are a lot better-placed,” 

TCS and Wipro have already committed that they would not retrench employees, even though both the firms are deferring wage hikes. Both firms have also announced that they would honour all the job commitments made during the campus placements last year.

“We will double down on our talent base and will not retrench any of our employees (due to this crisis),” said Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO of TCS.

Wipro has deferred increments and scheduled promotions for June for most of its employees.

“It is certainly not happening in the first quarter. We will take a call based on how the business moves and are not in a position to give guidance,” said Saurabh Govil, president and chief human resources officer at Wipro.