The worlwide slowdown has put hiring plans of IT companies in the deep freeze.

India’s Top Four have not only scaled down their hiring plans, but also deferred joining dates indefinitely for those candidates they had made offers to, TCS and Satyam being in the forefront.

As if that wasn’t enough, Tata Consultancy Services has also delayed promotions. According to information in the newspapers, this news was conveyed to employees by the company’s global HR head and VP, Ajoy Mukherjee. It seems the assessment process has been completed though, and the company is holding back promotions in view of the “current business environment which remains challenging and is expected to remain so for the near future”. TCS is also assumed to have taken a hit due to it’s exposure to Merrill Lynch, which was taken over by Bank of America last week.

Earlier this year, the company had sacked almost 500 employees post appraisal due to poor performance. They had also chucked out 20 employees on account of faking their resumes.

Tough times ahead, indeed !