While traditionally HCL has been more aggressive with its lateral hires as compared to its top tier peers, this gap has widened in recent times. Over the last five quarters, lateral hires have averaged at 30% for Infosys and 36% for TCS. Most IT companies choose to hire large numbers of freshers to keep costs down.

HCL Tech did not respond to queries for this story. But analysts did. Kuldeep Koul, IT sector analyst at Motilal Oswal, said that HCL is following a differentiating strategy to compete against larger rivals like TCS and Infosys.

They use the fact that they have a high proportion of experienced hires to pitch for contracts. According to analysts, while cost advantages for outsourcing IT work is still a significant factor, clients are increasingly looking for value additions and better service levels.

Amitabh Das, CEO of recruitment process outsourcing company Vati Consulting, said that Infosys, Wipro and TCS have always had a very strong emphasis on training freshers while inducting them. They believe in spending significant time and resources in this process to ensure that new recruits understand the organization and their roles well before they take charge, he said.