Wipro slashes FY26 fresher hiring target to 7,500-8,000 amid muted Q3 show

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) IT major Wipro on Friday revised its fresher hiring guidance for the current fiscal year (FY26), stating it now expects to onboard 7,500-8,000 graduates, down from its original target of 10,000-12,000.

The adjustment comes after muted third-quarter earnings, during which the Bengaluru-based firm added only about 400 freshers to its rolls.

"This quarter recruitment from campuses was muted; we had only about 400 odd freshers join… (by the end of this fiscal)... We had said 10,000. I think we'll end up between 7,500-8,000," Wipro CHRO Saurabh Govil said during the company’s Q3 earnings press conference.

Despite the quarterly slowdown, the company's year-to-date fresher intake remains above 5,000.

Wipro leadership emphasised that while volume hiring has moderated, the company is intensifying its focus on "AI-ready" talent.

"From a recruitment standpoint, especially on campuses, what we have done is we have created these Centres of Excellence – 50 of them across different universities, where we actually work with the university, and build a curriculum in a specific area -- could be on AI, cybersecurity, data… work with them, and then hire people from there. I think that's the approach which we are taking.

"Premiums are paid to people who have some experience with client experience in that area. That's how we are pressing on the AI skills. And then there is a lot of work happening in-house to upskill our existing talent in terms of certifications," Govil said.

Wipro added 6,529 employees during the October-December quarter, bringing its total staff count to 2,42,021.

This uptick was primarily driven by the integration of the Harman DTS acquisition and the "rebadging" of employees from a major deal signed last fiscal (the Phoenix deal).

Regarding the much-anticipated salary hikes, the company said it is still in the "process of deciding".

Wipro on Friday reported a 7 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,119 crore in the third quarter of FY26, weighed down by one-off restructuring charges and implementation of labour codes.

The company’s revenue from operations increased 5.5 per cent to Rs 23,555.8 crore in Q3 FY26, compared to Rs 22,318.8 crore in the year-ago period. PTI ANK DRR