TCS, Infosys, and Wipro faced a wage cost hike of over 5.5% in FY24 despite modest revenue growth. The surge, amounting to Rs 18,036 crore, was driven by lateral hiring in AI, ML, cloud, and engineering. TCS led with a 9.5% rise, while Infosys and Wipro saw increases of 5% and 2.4%, respectively. Although TCS and Wipro improved operating margins, Infosys saw a slight decrease. TCS announced salary increments of 4.5%-7%, while Infosys and Wipro are yet to disclose. Despite attrition rates easing, all three witnessed a collective reduction in headcount, contrasting with rising wage bills.