Odds are stacked against engineering Class of 2024

The Bengaluru twins Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd, which together hired 208,000 engineering graduates in the past three years, have said they don't plan to go to the campuses this year.

- Devina Sengupta & Varun Sood

This implies that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd, which hired 55% of the half a million engineering graduates between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2023, will be the only ones among the top four IT companies to hire from colleges this year.

According to two analysts, this split in campus hiring strategies among the country's Big Four IT services firms-a first in more than two decades could serve as a pointer to investors looking to separate the leaders from the laggards.

The last time the country's largest technology services companies shied away from campuses was during the global financial crisis of 2008.

Fifteen years later, only TCS and HCL have reaffirmed their intention to recruit from campuses, where placements start from October until April.

One possible explanation is the growth of these companies. During the first six months of the current fiscal year, TCS has clocked the fastest growth, with dollar revenue growing 5.7% compared to the year-ago period, followed by the 5.2% growth at HCL Technologies. Infosys has managed a 3.7% growth in the period, while Wipro has seen its revenue shrink by 1.5%.