Tech Jam all dressed up and nowhere to go

The sluggish global economy and foggy visibility into client spends have taken a toll on the job scene in the $100-billion Indian software exporting industry. Attrition rates at top-tier IT companies have dropped to their lowest levels during the quarter ended September for some, signaling a slowdown in hiring of mid to senior level tech professionals.

During the July-September stretch, attrition at TCS, the country’s largest IT firm, was at 10.2%, its lowest in several quarters. For Wipro there has been significant improvement in attrition, which was down to 14.6% from 15.6% in the preceding June quarter. On a last twelve months trailing (LTM) basis Infosys’ attrition fell to 15% from 15.6%, year-on-year (y-o-y).

Meanwhile, for HCL Technologies it stood at 13.6% as compared to 14% sequentially. Nasdaq-listed Cognizant, which has most of its software operations in India, saw annualised attrition come down marginally to 13% during the period from 13.4%, a year ago.

Experts feel with opportunities having dried up to an extent over the past couple of quarters, employees have become risk averse. “In the current market, there are hardly any exciting job options available. With the uncertainty in the global market, people are not willing to switch jobs. They prefer to continue with larger IT firms, which have

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