IT companies have become careful after US President Donald Trump’s protectionist stance.The Trump effect has shadowed hiring in B-schools and IT companies, which are generally largest recruiters in management schools, have slashed hiring.
This placement season saw a considerable drop in IT recruitment, especially in tier I and II cities. The drop has been reported by 20-40%.
For instance, IT hiring slid down by 26% at Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon.
"Consulting remains relatively stable but it's the back-end roles that have been hit hard. Infosys and Accenture are among those that have cut numbers at MDI, while IBM did not come for final placements," MDI placements chairperson Kanwal Kapil told ET.
As per reports, Infosys took just 13 people from one business schools as compared with 40 last year. Even Dell hired three against five and Wipro recruited five compared with nine last time.
"We are expecting at least 30 per cent less hiring in IT as compared with last year," Saveeta Mohanty, associate dean for career advisory services at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), told ET.
As per Top Recruiters survey 2016, six of the top 10 recruiters by numbers across 26 B-schools were from the technology space during last placement season.
ET reported on January 17 that Infosys and TCS will hire more engineers from campuses in the US as they brace themselves for stringent visa norms under the new administration. Among Trump's top election pledges were restricting immigration and bringing jobs back home.
Apart from Trump, another factor is automation, which is going to eat up several jobs.
"The Trump effect is definitely there. Adding to that is the fact that expected numbers are also muted for the industry in terms of growth. The focus on automation and increasing productivity per employee are other factors," an analyst tracking the IT sector told ET.
An Infosys spokesperson, however, told ET: "Hiring from US may not have a substantial impact on the recruitment numbers in India."
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