Indian IT giant Infosys has raised entry-level salaries to ₹21 lakh for certain roles in a bid to attract digitally native talent and strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities.
According to social media posts verified by Moneycontrol, Infosys is recruiting engineering and computer science graduates with compensation ranging between ₹7 lakh to ₹21 lakh per annum.
Infosys offers ₹21 lakh salary
The roles include Specialist Programmer L3 (Trainee) with a salary of ₹21 LPA; Specialist Programmer L2 (Trainee) with a salary of ₹16 LPA; and Specialist Programmer L1 (Trainee) with ₹10 LPA salary and ₹1 lakh joining bonus.
Employees will be recruited through campus recruitment and off-campus drives. Infosys group CHRO Shaji Mathew told Moneycontrol that the company is implementing an AI-first approach.
“Our early‑career hiring combines campus and off‑campus drives, and we have expanded opportunities in the Specialist Programmer track, with packages up to ₹21 lakh per annum,” he said.
Internet reacts
Infosys has long been criticised for stagnating fresher pay — entry-level salaries at the IT company began at ₹3.5 lakh per annum. This minimum pay structure has not been revised. Instead, the maximum salary for certain entry-level positions has been increased to ₹21 lakh per annum.
(Also read: Infosys CEO asked about low salary hikes, toxic work culture. His response)
On social media, some people praised Infosys for hiking fresher salaries. Others sought to dispel the notion that the raise has been implemented for all entry-level positions.
“The ‘up to 21 LPA’ figure does not reflect the overall reality. In our campus of around 2000 students, no one was hired at 21 LPA, approximately 15–20 students received offers at 6 LPA and only about 5–10 students were offered 11 LPA,” wrote X user Aniket Sahu.
“It's kind of lollypop but in reality nothing hike has been done. As it's for L3 position,” another user noted.
“Inaccurate information. Infosys has multiple roles for freshers, some roles now pay upto 21LPA. There are still some roles which pay less than 5 lakhs,” a person added.
“I think this applies only to niche tech skills. The rest will still get hired at average pay,” X user Yogesh said.
Even so, many users reacted with pleasant surprise to the news of Infosys paying up to ₹21 lakh for freshers.