Home Newsroom HCL Boosts Entry-Level Packages For Engineers: Will Other IT Giants Follow Suit?

HCL Boosts Entry-Level Packages For Engineers: Will Other IT Giants Follow Suit?

Shamik Banerjee

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HCL Boosts Entry-Level Packages For Engineers: Will Other IT Giants Follow Suit?

0 min read

Table of content:

Will Other IT Competitors Cope With The Attrition Crisis?
IT Giants Following Up?
Are Firms Increasing Packages? Institutions Answer
Have Programmes Helped Students Bag Suitable Packages?
Should Firms Increase Packages?

The IT sector in India has been hesitant to move the bar in their salary packages. It took a whole pandemic to move the bar by a fraction. Although some companies have kept the employees’ interests in mind and stepped forward for a change, most IT companies show no signs of any such move.

The third-largest IT services provider in the nation, HCL Technologies, recently announced an increment in freshers' salary from INR 3-3.6 LPA to INR 4.25 LPA for FY23 to attract fresh talent and keep them for longer. It’s a strategy by HCL to deal with the impact of rising attrition in the IT industry.

The upgrade in HCL freshers' salary will also benefit those candidates who joined in FY22.

Will Other IT Competitors Cope With The Attrition Crisis?

Though HCL has kept the employees’ common interest in mind, other IT majors, despite battling the attrition crisis have not shown any signs of package increments.

HCL fresher's salary was increased in order to create a pull factor and improve the quality of fresh talents joining the organization at the same time.

Also read: 85% Of Engineering Graduates Cannot Be Employed Directly; Infosys Foundation Chairman Sudha Murty Tells At A Convocation

“We want to improve the quality of our fresher pool and want more toppers joining our staff. This will also make us relatively attractive,” stated V V Apparao, chief human resources officer at HCL Technologies.

Over 300 institutions will receive the new packages in HCL fresher's salary in the upcoming placement cycles.

IT Giants Following Up?

An increase in fresher hiring has been witnessed in various IT companies, HCL included. HCL Tech hired 23,000 freshers in FY22 and it aims to increase the figure by 30-50 percent in FY23.

Following up with HCL, larger IT peers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest IT firm in India, and Infosys recruited 100,000 and 85,000 freshers respectively, in FY22.

An HR consultant stated the difficulty to increase entry-level salaries, especially for large recruiters, also stated that a rise in entry-level salary would make it compulsory to increase salaries offered to the previous year’s batch as well.

Are Firms Increasing Packages? Institutions Answer

Universities that witness bulk hiring from IT majors stated that neither have they witnessed any increment in fresher packages nor is there any further information regarding FY23 intake.

Besides that, universities are informed about the increase in differential hiring, along with fatter pay cheques offered by product companies and start-ups.

Also, major IT peers have existing programmes to help students gain attractive packages. TCS has a programme called TCS Digital that aims towards hiring students with specialization. The salary package starts from INR 7 LPA.

Also read: How I secured a job at Cognizant -By Aaditya from IMT Ghaziabad

Cognizant has a programme called Digital Next, for which a fresher can receive a starting pay package of INR 6.75 LPA, if selected. Similarly, Wipro Turbo, a programme from Wipro, can boost a student’s salary package up to INR 6.5 LPA.

Have Programmes Helped Students Bag Suitable Packages?

Vellore Institute of Technology placed around 7,500 students. During the placement drive, 885 companies visited the campus. Among these students, 2612 received packages of more than INR 10 LPA.

And among the above-mentioned firms, Cognizant hired 2,500 freshers from VIT at an average package of INR 3 LPA in FY22, followed up by 210 students who qualified under the differential category — called Digital Next program — at a package of INR 6.75 LPA.

Should Firms Increase Packages?

Keeping in mind the recent pandemic situation and the current attrition crisis, many firms, IT and others, have increased their packages by a significant percentage. But still, most firms hesitate to increase the salaries of previous employees, let alone freshers, in order to cope with the financial impact brought about by the pandemic.

In these troubling times, companies, as well as employees, must work in the better interest of each other so that stability can be maintained and a future plan for attracting talent is in place.