New Delhi: IT and engineering employees across the top six listed Indian IT services companies collectively recorded 92,0000 exits and a reduction of 24,422 in the net employee count, according to data from staffing firm Xpheno.These companies include Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and LTMindtree.While the attrition rate at these companies was in line with the industry standards, the exits surpassed hiring of new employees in IT and engineering functions in five of the last six months. As a result, overall intake over the last twelve months at these firms fell by 24,422 to 68,000.The employee count fell by nearly 3% during this period to 797,722 in October 2026 from 822,144 in October 2025, the report said.IT functions typically involve maintaining and supporting existing technology systems, while engineering functions focus on building and developing software and applications. “The collective count of talent in these functions has gradually dropped,” said Francis Padmadan, chief executive of Xpheno “Annual attrition has remained 11-15%, but companies haven’t necessarily refilled attrited seats”, he said, as reported by the Economic TimesExperts told the paper that the decline in traditional roles is happening alongside a demand for specialised technology skills. “AI, cloud, cybersecurity and specialised engineering roles are growing at 16% year-on-year even as overall IT hiring has declined by 3%”, said Neeti Sharma, chief executive of TeamLease DigitalPadmadan, however, cautioned against attributing the overall reduction to AI-led changes in software development. “Conventional engineering demand remains in an active demand funnel,” he said.Pareekh Jain, chief executive of market research firm EIIRTrend, said that in a weak-growth environment, companies are also trimming the number of employees not assigned to any client project, or bench talent. “Recovery in hiring would depend on when growth returns for the industry,” Jain said.According to the report, TCS added 4,258 employees, HCLTech added 6,450, and Tech Mahindra increased its headcount by 5,446, while Wipro cut 6,716 employees in the September quarter, indicating the uneven nature of workforce changes in the sector.