Hyderabad: It could dent the job prospect of the most sought after segment where the modern youth are keen on building their careers. If the recruitment projections made by leading Indian IT companies any thing to go by, there is a 10 to 20 percent drop in the number of people likely to be hired by the industry in the current fiscal year (FY) compared to the previous year, reported The Economic Times.

The $64 billion Indian software and services industry added around 200,000 people in 2007-08 financial year, as per industry estimates.

This is happening as Indian IT companies are not only grappling with the uncertainty of U.S. recession, but also the urgent need to improve their revenue per employee to remain profitable in the face of challenges like talent crunch, rising salaries and appreciation of rupee against dollar.

India's largest IT software and services employer Tata Consultancy Services, which recruited 35,672 people in 2007-08, may see an addition of only 30,000 in the current financial year.

Similarly, Satyam Computer Services Ltd is planning to hire 12,000-15 ,000 people in FY 2009, down from 16,000 the company hired last year.