Wipro saw a reduction of 435 employees in the October to December 2022 period from the previous quarter while its voluntary attrition rate moderated to 21.2 percent after at least four quarters, the tech giant’s financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal showed on Friday.

The firm’s total headcount at the end of the December quarter slipped to 258,744 from 259,179 in the last quarter, in which it had seen a net addition of 605 employees. Meanwhile, voluntary attrition moderated 180 bps from the previous quarter in which it stood at 23 percent.

The IT firm also claims to have given several of its employees salary hikes and incentives. Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, said, “Our Operating margins are now at 16.3 percent, which is an expansion of 120 basis points from last quarter. This expansion of margins was after absorbing the investments we made in our people by way of salary increases, promotions and long-term incentives for our senior leadership."

Also Read: HCL Tech net hiring drops 65% to 2,945 employees and attrition rate slips to 21.7% in Q3

In the IT sector overall, attrition moderated across the board while hiring was muted with TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech witnessing similar trends. The companies say the decline in hiring due to easing attrition and does not signal a slowdown.

Meanwhile, Wipro's revenue came in below consensus estimates. The figure of Rs 23,055.7 crore was less than a CNBC-TV18 poll projection of Rs 23,252 crore.

Also Read: Infosys hiring hits a 9-quarter low but attrition rate eases to 24.3% in Q3

The bigger surprise came from the margin front as EBIT margin improved 120 basis points from the previous quarter to 16.3 percent from 15.1 percent. Consensus expected margin to rise only 15 basis points from September.

Meanwhile, Wipro's management reiterated that it will grow in double digits for the full financial year. It anticipates growth to be in the range of 11.5-12 percent in constant currency terms for the full year.

Also Read: TCS loses 2,197 employees and attrition remains above 21% in third quarter