Something really uncomfortable is happening right now in Indian IT sector and honestly,it is hitting lakhs of engineering graduates at one of the most vulnerable points of their lives . Companies that made promises are now either going silent,delaying everything or in some cases just taking back offers completely.
According to reports,major names like Tata Consultancy Services,Cognizant Technology Solutions,Accenture Plc and Oracle Corp have all communicated changes to their hiring strategies over past month . The reason being cited everywhere is same combination — increasing automation and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties.
And for roughly 1.5 million engineering graduates in India,this is not small thing at all.
What is making situation more frustrating is the way it is playing out silently . At TCS,an email was sent to selected candidates saying that issuance of joining letters depends on company's current project demands . One candidate who cleared hiring process three months ago said,and this quote is really hitting hard — "This keeps us in the lurch because we don't know when we will get the job and when we will start earning."
Three months of waiting after clearing process . No clarity,no date,nothing.
Cognizant situation is equally uncomfortable. Candidates who received letters of intent back in November 2025 have still not received formal offer letters . One graduate from Cognizant's GenC program said,"What is saddening is that some of my classmates who cleared their internship months later got their offer letters whereas we haven't."
That kind of inconsistency between batchmates at same company must sting in very particular way.
Few key things standing out from this whole situation:
- TCS and Cognizant have postponed joining dates for some candidates citing business requirements,while both companies are simultaneously restructuring workforces — TCS completing exit of approximately 12,000 employees and Cognizant planning reduction of at least 4,000 employees.
- Accenture and Oracle have gone further by withdrawing job offers entirely for certain roles .
- Internship-to-hire models are gaining traction across firms as companies want to evaluate candidates before committing to full-time positions.
Both TCS and Cognizant have officially pushed back on narrative of course . TCS stated they continue to onboard trainees as planned. Cognizant attributed delays to business necessities and background verification processes,and also mentioned plans to recruit more freshers than 20,000 hired previous year . But those official statements are sitting in strange contrast to what actual candidates are reporting on ground.
According to Forbes report from November 2025,uneven client demand combined with advancements in automation tools has raised serious concerns about future of entry-level technology positions . And honestly,that is the bigger uncomfortable picture behind all these individual delay stories.
This is not just one company behaving badly or one batch getting unlucky . Something structural seems to be shifting in how IT firms think about fresh hiring altogether . Internship-to-hire,delayed onboarding,rescinded offers… these are not random isolated events,they seem to be part of same cautious new approach.
And what nobody is really answering clearly right now is — if automation keeps expanding and client demand stays uneven,what exactly does path forward look like for this generation of engineering graduates who did everything right and still find themselves waiting…
