Wipro headcount falls by 6,716 in a quarter, and its HR chief names productivity from AI projects as one of the reasons

Wipro's headcount fell by 6,716 in the July-September quarter, and its HR chief named productivity from AI projects as one reason, alongside a pause in campus hiring. The Indian IT services company's datasheet for the second quarter of its 2027 financial year puts the closing employee count at 236,328 on 30 September 2026, down from 243,044 at the end of June, a drop of about 2.8%. A year earlier the figure was 235,492, so headcount is roughly where it was twelve months ago. On the 15 October earnings call an analyst asked what drove the cut. Saurabh Govil, the chief human resources officer, said headcount was "flattish" year on year, that Wipro "didn't go on campus" in the first half, and that it will hire graduates in the second half given volume growth, adding: "We're also driving productivity from AI projects. So that is also coming in." Wipro did not announce layoffs or say how many roles AI has replaced, so this is a quarterly decline with AI given as one of several causes, not an entry in our AI layoffs tracker. It follows the company's statement in September that AI was already doing work equal to 20,000 employees, whom it said it had redeployed rather than let go.