Who says IT companies have a reduced wage bill now? A cursory look at the hiring patterns of Indian software companies indicate a trend that is quite contrary to what many of us have been led to believe.

Combined employee costs for the top four IT giants went by as much as 30 per cent to about Rs.9500 crore in the second quarter of the year as against Rs.7,300 crore in the same period of last year, a report published in the Hindu Businessline newspaper has said.

The industry has attributed the spurt to annual salary hikes that ranged between eight to 12 per cent on an average and was reportedly doled out in the second quarter of the year.

However, there is cause for concern as the overall hiring has come down by a whopping 35 per cent to about 14,900 in the second quarter compared to a figure of about 22,930 a year ago, the article said adding that Infosys was the company that enhanced its staff and employee costs by the maximum.

The others indicated a slowdown in hiring though there was still an increase in the employee cost. In the case of TCS, Wipro and Satyam Computer Services, there was a decline in the number of new hires but an increase in staff costs during the same period.