Infosys Defers Salary Hikes to July, Even Later For Senior Executives

New Delhi: Infosys, country's second-largest software services firm, has deferred salary hikes for employees from April to July and even later in case of senior executives as the Indian tech industry struggles to cope with uncertain environment and visa-related issues in key markets like the US.

In an e-mail to employees, Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao said the compensation review for employees ranked JL5 (job level 5) and below will be effective from July, PTI reported.

For other employees, the same would be rolled out in subsequent quarters.

An Infosys spokesperson confirmed the development.

Cognizant has rolled out a voluntary separation programme for directors, associate VPs and senior VPs, offering them 6-9 months of salary.

Wipro is also learnt to have asked about 600 employees to leave as part of its annual "performance appraisal" even as speculations were that the number could go as high as 2,000.

Indian IT firms are facing intense pressure given an uncertain environment and stricter work permit regimes in countries like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Indian IT firms, which get a bulk of their revenues from the North American market, are now hiring more locals there as the US administration seeks to make work visa norms more stricter.

Infosys, while tightening belt at home, plans to hire about 10,000 American workers over the next two years and will set up four new innovation centres in the US.