Synopsis
Unlike cricket, India’s IT services industry is groaning under a weakening bench strength. The bench strength for IT services, long seen as a safety net in industry, has shrunk by a quarter and is unlikely to be filled up even if growth picks up. Across Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra, the bench has reduced by roughly 75,000 people over the past two years, falling from around three lakhs to about 2.25 lakh, industry experts told ET.Across Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra, the bench has reduced by roughly 75,000 people over the past two years, falling from around three lakhs to about 2.25 lakh, industry experts told ET.
“The bench across IT services is currently between 8-15% of the workforce compared to over 20% earlier,” said Pareekh Jain, CEO, EIIRTrend. TeamLease Digital put the current bench at 8-12%, down from 20% to 30% earlier.
This is not just a cyclical adjustment. Experts said the model is under pressure and may not return to earlier levels even when demand improves.
“The concept of bench does not make sense unless an IT services firm can predict skill or role-based demand with 90% accuracy three months in advance,” said Gaurav Vasu, founder of UnearthInsight.
For decades, the bench acted as a buffer, with companies hiring ahead of confirmed projects to have a ready pool of talent. That model worked when the market was growing quickly. Now, firms are tightening it.
Companies that used to have 4-5% of their workers sitting on the bench are now aiming for less than one to 1.5%. TCS has capped bench time at about 35 days a year. After that, performance reviews begin, and people who can’t be assigned to projects have to leave.
Slower growth is the main reason for the reduction, not artificial intelligence. “Low growth is the bigger factor in bench reduction today. When growth returns, firms may not need to rebuild their bench because local hiring in different countries has increased significantly over the last five to six years,” Jain said.
The impact is visible in hiring. Demand for conventional mid-level delivery roles has fallen 20-30% over the past two years. At the same time, demand for AI, GenAI, data, and cloud roles rose 30-40% at the same companies, said Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital.
However, GCCs present a mixed picture, with mid-level hiring holding up better. “Leadership hiring has grown in line with overall demand, with the share of such roles increasing from around 15% in 2024 to around 20% in 2025. What has changed is the nature of these roles. Today, more than 50% of job demand is driven by emerging skills, especially in AI, cloud, and platform engineering,” said Kapil Joshi, CEO of IT staffing at Quess Corp. Entry-level hiring, however, has reduced by roughly 30-35% over the same period, he added.
The shift is also stretching placement timelines. The average time to place a benched engineer with 8-12 years of experience has increased to 60-90 days from 30-45 days earlier, Sharma said.
Quess data showed roles in AI, ML, cybersecurity, and complex engineering are now taking 75-90 days or more due to higher evaluation benchmarks and skill scarcity, Joshi said.
The pay gap is widening, too. Lateral hiring premiums for non-AI roles have dropped 10-20% today from 25-35% in FY 22-23. Engineers with AI skills still command 20-30% premiums and see faster offer closures, Sharma noted.
Quess data puts GenAI premiums at 15-40%, depending on the role.
The traditional career model in IT services is also changing. “The people manager role is not disappearing, but its responsibilities are narrowing, shifting toward revenue expansion and profitability management away from headcount oversight,” Vasu said.
On the ground, AI is changing how work is done rather than replacing jobs fully. A function that earlier needed 100 people can now operate with 40 to 50. “What has changed is attrition backfill, net new headcount growth, and internal supply of talent getting transformed through reskilling and upskilling,” Vasu added.
Experts caution that the shrinking bench reflects a deeper reset in how IT services firms hire, deploy, and manage talent, and this could just be the start.
