Software service firms have now raised entry-level salaries to new recruits from college campuses. Infosys has increased salaries for fresh engineers to Rs 2.7 lakh per annum from Rs 2.4 lakh per annum, while offering 15% wage hikes to its offshore employees, said the press release issued by Nasscom.

On the other hand, TCS and Satyam have also hiked wages for trainees. ``We are increasing our salaries for freshers by 10%. This will be applicable for campus hires who join us in the next fiscal,`` Satyam Computer Services chairman Ramalinga Raju said. Satyam gave a higher wage hike of 18% offshore and 5-6 % onsite, which is coming into effect in the July-September quarter in a bid to curb attrition and retain talent.

The increase is in line with rising salaries in the tech sector, where IT companies are fighting against high-end technical-focused business process outsourcing (BPO) firms and non-IT engineering companies for the same talent.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji expects wages for software and BPO services to move up some more in 2006-07. It would increase wages on a staggered basis from the October-December quarter, Wipro`s chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Infosys plans to hire 25,000 people this year and TCS, which plans to recruit 30,000 engineers by March next, has already made offers to 8,700 people in 190 colleges. It will make offers to thousands more when it covers a total of over 300 colleges in the next few months.
 

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