Mid-tier IT companies like Mindtree, Zensar, Hexaware amongst others are looking to hire about 500-1,000 freshers in the upcoming recruitment drive for FY19.

“Hiring at the fresher level is picking up quite aggressively, but not at the volumes and numbers of earlier days. Currently, hiring is back at 60-70% of the 2014-15 levels,” said Pankaj Khanna, vice-president of talent acquisition at Mindtree.

The Indian IT industry is expected to grow at a steady 7-9% in FY19,FY19, in contrast to the original 10-12% Nasscom guided in FY17. Though net addition has increased, the rate of job creation has dropped over the years. The industry body estimates that total addition to the IT workforce in FY 2018 was a little over 100,000.

The $167 billion IT-BPM industry employs close to 400,000 people and is currently faced with disruption due to the shift towards automation and new digital technologies.

Large firms who have invested in retaining thousands of existing employees have surplus staff in their teams deterring them to be aggressive in campus placements. The small and mid-size firm are more nibble and have found it easier to shift gears to digital.