Bengaluru, Apr 18 (IANS): The full-year headcount at IT major Infosys declined for the first time in nearly 23 years, by 25,994 in the financial year 2023-24.

The full financial year headcount was 317,240 -- a 7.5 per cent decrease from the previous fiscal year.

"Our utilisation rate has improved from 77 per cent utilisation including trainees in the beginning of the year. The growth environment was also very different at that point so we had guided differently," said Jayesh Sanghrajka, CFO, Infosys, as the company reported its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

"We had to realign some of those factors as the growth environment changed. Our utilisation has changed to 82 per cent now. Our attrition has also come down significantly. That’s the reason you see a net headcount reduction," he added.

On a quarterly basis, the company added 5,423 fewer employees.

"We have changed our hiring model significantly. We no longer hire all the freshers from campus. We hire less than half of them from campus and more than half of them off campus," said Sanghrajka.

The IT software giant declared a 30 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 7,969 crore for the January-March quarter, up from Rs 6,128 crore in the same quarter last year.