Salary increases, furloughs, and fewer working days in the coming months will have an influence on Infosys' performance in the second half of FY25 (H1FY25). The Bengaluru-based company stated that these implications have been included into its guidance for the rest of the year. Furloughs occur when clients in places such as the United States and Europe refuse to compensate outsourced staff from Indian IT firms on specified days when their operations are paused, generally during Christmas and New Year.

"The headwinds will come from the fourth-quarter compensation rise. In the Q2 FY25 post-earnings conference call, Infosys' Chief Financial Officer, Jayesh Sanghrajka, stated that Q3 and Q4 will have usual seasonality in terms of furloughs and shorter working days."

In its earnings announcement, Infosys boosted its FY25 revenue outlook to 3.75-4.5 percent in constant currency terms, up from the 3-4 percent range provided in the previous quarter. The company's operating margin target for FY25 remained steady at 20-22 percent.

"There are various factors that have led to a guidance change, starting from the Q2 performance, the increase in volumes that we saw across multiple sectors, including financial services," Sanghrajka told investors. "We have baked in the regular furloughs (in the guidance) that we have seen over the past few years," said the minister. The corporation also stated that, while the exact amount of the salary increase has not been determined, it will be implemented in two stages. "The junior employees will get it in January and the rest will get it in April," he said.

The company anticipates the majority of its employees to receive raises in January, which means that fourth-quarter profits will be hurt. When questioned about tailwinds that could assist profits, he stated Project Maximus, pricing, and role ratio optimization would help in the last two quarters. So all of those would fall under the same category as Project Maximus. On October 17, Infosys' shares closed nearly 3% higher at Rs 1,974.55.