Cognizant to raise pay by up to 9% for 80% of employees globally
NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES — Global IT giant Cognizant will roll out salary increases for approximately 80% of eligible employees starting November 1, 2025, with top performers in India receiving high single-digit raises.
The move mirrors rival Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) recent wage revisions despite slowing industry growth and economic uncertainties.
Cognizant rewards top performers amid industry slowdown
Cognizant’s recent salary hike move shows that the company is committed to keeping its best performers when the economy is tough.
Telangana Today reported that Cognizant’s employees—up to senior associate levels—will receive raises, with top Indian performers seeing increases of 7% to 9%. This follows Cognizant’s second-quarter earnings announcement, where it pledged merit-based pay revisions for most employees in late 2025.
“This (wage hike) aligns with its announcement during its second quarter earnings that it plans to award merit-based salary increases for the vast majority of employees during the second half of 2025,” the company said in an email, according to Reuters.
The decision comes even as the IT sector faces slowing demand, with Cognizant reporting a 7% year-on-year decline in quarter one calendar year 2025 bookings.
However, the company’s trailing 12-month bookings rose 3% to $26.7 billion, bolstered by four major deals exceeding $100 million each. Revenue also grew 7.5% year-over-year to $5.1 billion, suggesting resilience despite broader market pressures.
IT salary adjustments outpace layoffs at major firms
TCS also plans to lay off 12,000 employees, which demonstrates the troubled normalisation in the industry. The two companies are leveraging their employee incentives to optimize costs, as client outlays are being stretched.
The difference in the cases of salary increases and layoffs indicates the instability of the sector. Although Cognizant has not declared job cuts, its guarded nature when it comes to offering employment based on high performance suggests that they are engaged in selective retention.
Cognizant has also added rebates, noting that new bonuses were the highest in three years, further adding strength to its emphasis on rewarding productivity during economic headwinds.
“Top performers will receive the highest increases. Earlier this year, Cognizant paid most of its associates their highest bonuses in three years,” the company said.
Cognizant recently ranked #7 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of the world’s top 500 outsourcing companies.
