India's two major IT services companies, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Wipro Ltd., have outlined different near-term positions on salary increases and graduate hiring, according to management comments in their Q2 FY27 earnings calls.
TCS has continued to bring in graduates, onboarding 14,000 in the first quarter and another 10,000 in the second. Wipro, meanwhile, did not conduct campus hiring in the first half of the financial year and plans to return to campuses in the second half, citing expected volume growth.
The companies have also offered different signals on salary costs. TCS disclosed the impact of annual increments on operating margins in its Q1 FY27 call, while Wipro Chief Financial Officer Aparna Iyer said another salary increase was not under consideration, following the hike effective March 1, 2026.
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Salary Costs
TCS implemented annual increments for eligible employees across grades from April 1, 2026, with top performers receiving double-digit increases, according to its Q4 FY26 earnings call.
In the Q1 FY27 call, Chief Financial Officer Samir Seksaria said the salary increments affected operating margin by 170 basis points. TCS reported an operating margin of 24% in the quarter, down 130 basis points sequentially.
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Wipro's position was more explicit on the timing of another increase. Responding to a question on salary hikes during the Q2 FY27 call, Iyer said the company had implemented an increase effective March 1, 2026.
“It's been just a few months since we rolled out. So right now, it's not under consideration,” Iyer said.
Her comments indicate that a further increase was not being considered at the time of the call. They do not establish the company's position for the remainder of FY27.
Hiring Plans
TCS onboarded 24,000 graduates across the first two quarters of FY27 — 14,000 in Q1 and 10,000 in Q2. The company also reported net employee additions of around 13,000 over the two quarters.
Chief Human Resources Officer Sudeep Kunnumal said campus hiring for students graduating in the coming financial year was in its final stages. He added that TCS was hiring to meet demand, including for niche technologies.
“We are hiring to demand,” Kunnumal said.
Wipro, by contrast, did not conduct campus hiring in the first half. Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil said the company planned to return to campuses in the second half, citing volume growth. Wipro also described its year-on-year headcount as flattish.
The comments point to different near-term approaches to graduate recruitment, although the companies' hiring plans should not be treated as directly comparable measures of overall workforce demand.
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AI And Productivity
AI remains part of the broader workforce discussion at both companies, but the transcripts do not establish it as the sole reason for their salary or hiring decisions.
TCS Chief Executive Officer K. Krithivasan said annualised revenue from AI services crossed $3.1 billion in Q2 FY27. The company also referred to demand for niche technology skills as it discussed recruitment.
Govil referred to AI-driven productivity in Wipro's discussion of headcount. The comments provide context for how the companies are thinking about workforce requirements, but do not establish a direct causal link between AI productivity and the decision to defer or resume campus hiring.
The clearest contrast is in the timing of graduate recruitment: TCS onboarded 24,000 graduates in the first half, while Wipro expects to resume campus hiring in the second half. On salary increases, TCS had detailed the margin impact of its annual increments, whereas Wipro said another increase was not under consideration at the time of its Q2 call.
These comments offer a snapshot of the two companies' positions in FY27, rather than evidence of a broader industry-wide shift.
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