Hiring at Infosys has dropped due to automation: Vishal Sikka

For the first time in many quarters, global software major Infosys hired less techies and added lesser during the third quarter (October-December) of fiscal 2016-17, thanks to disruptive automation.

“Automation has slowed down the number of people we have in the third quarter (Q3). Our hiring for the first nine months (April-December) of this fiscal (2016-17) was 5,407 as against 17,857 in the like period of the previous fiscal (2015-16),” admitted Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka on Friday.

Clarifying that automation was one of the key drivers of the company’s strategy, Sikka told reporters here that it (automation) had freed about 2,700 of its techies from over-lapping and time consuming work.

“Automation does not eliminate jobs but weans away people from equivalent work or same jobs,” asserted Sikka.