News

Information technology (IT) services firm Cognizant is planning to onboard 20,000 freshers in 2025, aiming to expand its talent pyramid to prepare for managed services and artificial intelligence (AI)-led software development.

“The 20,000 freshers will now shape our pyramid because we are now getting a lot of managed services work. So, that will start to accelerate our headcount,” said Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S during a press conference after March quarter results. “Now that organic growth has come back, it’s a good time to re-baseline the pyramid,” Kumar added.

A pyramid structure in IT usually refers to having a larger number of employees with less experience and fewer employees with more experience, resulting in reduced salary bills.

During Q1CY25, the US-based IT services firm beat the Street revenue estimates on the back of large deals in health sciences and financial services verticals.

The fresher recruitment announcement comes at a time when Cognizant’s Indian peers have stopped short of sharing the exact hiring targets for FY26, citing uncertainty in demand environment. Nevertheless, the top five IT companies will add anywhere between 80,000-84,000 IT jobs during the current fiscal, as per management commentary so far. The actual figure can vary widely, as pointed out by company executives.

The new recruits will be trained on FlowSource, Cognizant’s internal developer tool that combines human and machine-generated code. “When you’re doing it for the first time and doing it that way, that’s the only way you’ll know how to code,” one company executive said, referring to the AI-first approach being introduced at the fresher level. The use of code assist platforms from day one is expected to drive productivity gains across the development cycle.

Cognizant is also continuing its specialised hiring from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) for its power programmers and full-stack developer roles.

The company, like its peers, is trying to anticipate how far AI will reshape delivery structures. “Will the pyramid be a pyramid, will it become a diamond, or will it become a cylinder? It all depends on how AI progresses,” he said.

The Belcan-headquartered firm is also exploring the creation of new roles as part of what it describes as ‘Vector 3 of agentification’, referring to next-gen service models that may not require traditional engineering skills. “These are labour pools we didn’t address in the past,” the company executive said, highlighting new opportunities for non-engineers with expertise in operations, domain knowledge, etc.

Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal said the services major has about 60,000 employees who have spent over 10 years with the company, joining right from college. “And that's the core of the company, that's the middle management of the company.”

Discover the latest Business News, Budget 2025 News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!

${res.must_watch_article[0].headline}

Stock Market Holiday Jammu Kashmir News Live Waves Summit 2025 Live Heatwave in India Q4 Results 2025 Live Hit 3 Review JKBOSE 10th Result 2025 Kolkata News Retro Movie Review IPL Points Table 2025

Business Markets Stocks India News City News Economy Mutual Funds Personal Finance IPO News Startups

Home Currencies Commodities Pre-Market IPO Global Market Bonds

Home Loans up to 50 Lakhs Credit Cards Lifetime Free Finance TrackerNew Fixed Deposits Fixed Deposit Comparison Fixed Income

Home MC 30 Top Ranked Funds ETFs Mutual Fund Screener

Income Tax Calculator EMI Calculator Retirement Planning Gratuity Calculator

Stock Markets

News18 Firstpost CNBC TV18 News18 Hindi Cricketnext Overdrive Topper Learning

About Us Contact Us Advisory Alert Advertise with Us SupportDisclaimer Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms & Conditions Financial Terms (Glossary) Sitemap Investors

You are already a Moneycontrol Pro user.