Indian IT giant Wipro has made a fresh offer of Rs 3.5 lakh per annum to its training programme (Velocity) graduates, which is almost half its previous offer of Rs 6.5 lakh per annum. The last date for accepting the new offer is today — February 20, 2023.

"Like others in our industry, we continue to assess global economies and customer needs, which factor into our hiring plans," the company said in its mail to the students who have completed the training programme.

The mail added that at present, Wipro has certain project engineer roles available for recruitment with an annual compensation to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, and the same is open for all Velocity graduates in the FY23 batch. The onboarding for the roles would begin next month.

Wipro linked a short survey for the candidates to fill by February 20, 2023, if they wanted to accept the offer of Rs 3.5 lakh per annum. "If you choose to accept this offer, all previous offers will stand void. We encourage you to grab this opportunity as it is time-bound," the email stated.

Wipro responded to CNBC-TV18.com in an email saying it had to adjust its onboarding plans. "In light of the changing macro environment and, as a result, our business needs, we had to adjust our onboarding plans," Wipro said.

"As we work to honor all outstanding offers made, this current offer creates an immediate opportunity for candidates to start their careers, build their expertise and acquire new skills — both through the interesting and innovative work that we do, as well as our extensive learning and development programmes," the company said.

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Harpreet Singh Saluja, President of Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), "strongly" condemned Wipro's move and called it "unethical." NITES works for the protection of benefits, welfare and rights of IT & ITES Employees.

"The decision to cut the salaries of the employees without prior consultation and negotiation is not only unjust but also goes against the principles of fairness and transparency. It is unacceptable that the burden of the company's financial troubles is being placed solely on the shoulders of the employees. We demand that the management reconsider its decision and engage in meaningful dialogue with the union to find a mutually beneficial solution," Saluja said.

In October last year, NITES had alleged that Wipro had offered Rs 3.5 lakh to some graduates, and it had “promised” to upgrade the salary to Rs 6.5 lakh on the condition they pass the training programme (Velocity) with 60 percent and above marks.

Last month, Wipro axed 452 freshers that the company had made offers to but had not onboarded. The IT giant had said the freshers were let go because they “performed poorly in assessment repeatedly even after training.” The rejected students with offer letters from January 2022 argued that a whole year was wasted because of this abrupt exercise.

On another note, in September last year, the company's Executive Chairman Rishad Premji had also said that moonlighting was a “complete violation of integrity in its deepest form.” The company had also sacked some 300 employees for moonlighting around the time.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Feb 20, 2023 6:43 PM IST